戰爭/日本士兵終於講述他們的故事/太平洋地獄－從活體解剖到同類相食

Japanese Devils

日本鬼子電影紀錄片

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理查詹姆斯哈維斯2002 年 3 月 17 日

日本二戰暴行的細節在整個亞洲都眾所周知。除了最重要的地方——日本本身。

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戰後，美國希望幫助建立一個強大的日本作為對抗共產中國的堡壘，因此在東京戰爭罪審判中，只有少數軍事領導人和外交官受到起訴。因此，大多數犯下暴行的人被允許悄悄地重新融入社會。

從那時起，日本強大的愛國右翼就確保了該國歷史書中省略了這些暴行的細節。結果，兩代日本人在成長過程中對他們的同胞在中國和其他亞洲國家的不當行為一無所知。

到目前為止，就是這樣。電影製作人松井稔製作的日本紀錄片《日本鬼子》採訪了 14 名日本士兵，講述了他們從侵華戰爭開始（1931 年滿洲事變）到 1945 年戰爭結束期間在中國犯下的罪行。

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這些前士兵冷靜而準確地講述了他們針對中國人的行為：大屠殺、強姦、酷刑、活體解剖、同類相食。

《日本鬼子》12月在東京上映。正如影片序言中所展示的那樣，許多日本人認為戰爭罪問題是可恥的，並且認為不應該討論它。那些提出這個話題的人被指控有叛國行為。

但大眾，無論老少，都表現出如此濃厚的興趣，以至於三週後，這部電影就被雜誌列為年度最佳電影之一。現在，每天早上Image Forum 電影院外都會排起至少 50 人的隊伍，等待上午 9:30 上映的電影。

《日本鬼子》——原標題「日本鬼子」的直譯，是 20 世紀 30 年代和 40 年代中國人創造的普通話侮辱性詞語——的力量在於它的主題的平靜表達。松井想要創建一個關於其他地方沒有用日語記錄的事件的歷史記錄。儘管前來受訪的男子都對自己的戰時行為感到遺憾，但松井要求他們克制情緒，以清晰、準確的方式講述自己的活動。

可信度也是一個問題。儘管一些受訪者對自己犯下的暴行感到非常情緒化，但松井要求他們不要在鏡頭前哭泣。在日本，那些試圖揭露此類事件的人有時會被視為瘋子或中國洗腦的受害者。因此松井希望受訪者盡可能顯得頭腦清醒。

在這裡列出所有各種各樣的放蕩行為會佔用太多篇幅，但精選的一些將說明前士兵行為的不人道。

影片一開始，駐滿洲的前二等兵土屋義夫講述了他如何透過射擊中國戰俘的後頸並將他們踢入洞中來謀殺他們。

然後，傳染病科的下士筱塚義夫講述了他在測試鼠疫病毒時如何「殘酷地謀殺」並解剖了五名中國人。

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陸軍中尉鹿田正雄回憶起自己在觀眾面前用高超的劍道劍術斬首一名俘虜的過程，這種劍術讓頭顱的頸部前面有一片皮瓣相連。然後他把頭踢進籃子裡。

另一些人則講述了女性被強姦並用刺刀刺傷生殖器的情況，或者在某些情況下，她們的陰道被塞滿浸有石油的碎布並被點燃。孩子們經常在父母面前被謀殺。

如果說在一連串的暴行中，有一個「最糟糕」的話，那就是前軍士長榎本正代的承認。榎本記得強暴了一名年輕女子，用切肉刀將她切成薄片，放在鍋裡煮熟，然後將她作為食物分發給缺乏肉的部隊。

松井導演不想在電影中表現出任何道歉，以免這將基調從歷史記錄轉變為懺悔。但退伍軍人確實試圖給出一些理由，即使他們不推卸個人對自己行為的責任。日本軍事訓練教導新兵，中國人連動物都不如，這一事實被引用：「我們日本人都以同樣的方式看待中國人——劣等人渣，」土屋吉夫說。

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然而，這並不能解釋這些人在犯下暴行時所經歷的虐待狂的歡樂。「我失去了人性……殺得越多，我就越享受，」一名男子回憶道。

其他人則表示同儕壓力是一個因素。那些經常毆打和羞辱日本新兵的退伍軍人稱，如果他們不參與犯罪活動，他們就是懦夫。

當然，民族主義是最大的動力。這些曾經狂熱的日本民族主義者如果認為謀殺和強姦能夠促進日本的事業並增加天皇的榮耀，他們就會毫不猶豫地進行謀殺和強姦。

（後來透過東京戰爭罪審判，天皇被免除了所有戰爭罪，這一行為使得責任被轉移到了軍事指揮部中的少數人身上。）

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在影片的結尾，人們發現這些人實際上因其罪行而受到了懲罰。 1945年，57萬日本士兵向中國投降，並被囚禁在西伯利亞。五年後，共產黨取得勝利後，1,100 人被送回中國接受「再教育」。紀錄片稱，他們受到人道對待，被迫看到自己行為中的邪惡，並於1956年返回日本，並被警告「不要再侵略中國」。

14 人就在其中。如今，他們想講述自己的活動，讓日本年輕人了解戰爭期間發生的真相。

「我現在 80 歲了，」鹿田正夫說。「在我的餘生中，我將談論侵略戰爭……我必須找到一種方法來告訴後代，我們絕不能再犯下這樣的罪行，」鹿田補充道。

“這是我至少能做的來贖罪。”

2002 年 3 月 17 日

理查詹姆斯哈維斯

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Opinion

WAR / Japanese soldiers finally tell their story / Hell in the Pacific -- from vivisection to cannibalism

By Richard James Havis

March 17, 2002

Details of Japanese World War II atrocities are known all over Asia. Except, that is, in the place it matters most -- Japan itself.

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America's postwar desire to help build a strong Japan as a bulwark against Communist China entailed that only a select group of military leaders and diplomats be prosecuted at the Tokyo War Crimes trial. So most of those who committed atrocities were allowed to quietly rejoin society.

Since then, Japan's powerful patriotic right wing has ensured that details of the atrocities have been omitted from the country's history books. Consequently, two generations of Japanese have grown up ignorant of their countrymen's perverse behavior in China and other Asian countries.

Until now, that is. "Japanese Devils," a Japanese documentary by filmmaker Minoru Matsui, interviews 14 Japanese soldiers about their crimes in China from the beginning of the invasion -- 1931's Manchurian Incident -- to the end of the war in 1945.

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Calmly and accurately, the former soldiers relate, in great detail, their actions against the Chinese: mass murder, rape, torture, vivisection, cannibalism.

"Japanese Devils" opened in Tokyo in December. As the film illustrates in a prologue, many Japanese find the war crimes issue shameful and feel it should not be discussed. Those who do bring the subject up are accused of traitorous behavior.

But such was the interest shown by the public, young and old, that after three weeks the film was being listed by magazines as one of the top films of the year. Now, a queue of at least 50 people forms outside the Image Forum cinema every morning for the film's 9:30 a.m. showing.

The power of "Japanese Devils" -- a literal translation of the original title "Riben Guizi," a Mandarin-language insult coined by Chinese in the 1930s and '40s -- lies in the calm delivery of its subjects. Matsui wanted to create a historical record about events that have not been elsewhere documented in the Japanese language. Although the men who came forward for interviews all regretted their wartime acts, Matsui asked them to hold back on their emotions and relate their activities in a clear, accurate manner.

Credibility was also an issue. Although some of the interviewees felt highly emotional about the atrocities they had committed, Matsui asked them not to cry in front of the camera. In Japan, those who try to bring such events to light are sometimes dismissed as insane or victims of Chinese brainwashing. So Matsui wanted his interviewees to appear as clear-headed as possible.

To list all the various debaucheries would take up too much space here, but a select few will illustrate the inhumanity of the former soldiers' acts.

At the start of the film, Yoshio Tsuchiya, a former 2nd lieutenant in Manchuria, tells how he murdered Chinese prisoners of war by shooting them in the back of the neck and kicking them into holes.

Then, Yoshio Shinozuka, a corporal in the Infectious Diseases Unit, tells how he "murdered brutally," then dissected, five Chinese while testing plague viruses on them.

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Masao Shikada, a 2nd lieutenant in the army, recalls enjoying beheading a captive, in front of an audience, with a superior Kendo sword technique that left the head attached by a flap of skin at the front of the neck. He then kicked the head into a basket.

Others tell of women being raped and bayoneted in the genitals, or, in some cases, having their vaginas stuffed with rags soaked in petroleum and set alight. Children were routinely murdered in front of their parents.

If there can be a "worst" in such a litany of atrocities, it is the admission of Masayo Enomoto, a former sergeant major. Enomoto remembers raping a young woman, slicing her up with a meat cleaver, cooking her in a pot and distributing her as food to his troops, who were short of meat.

Director Matsui did not want to show any apologies on film, lest this shift the tone from historical record to confessional. But the ex-soldiers do try to give some reasons, even if they do not shirk personal responsibility for their acts. The fact that Japanese military training taught recruits that the Chinese were worth less than animals is cited: "We Japanese all thought about the Chinese the same way -- as subhuman scum," says Yoshio Tsuchiya.

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This does not, however, explain the sadistic glee that the men remember experiencing while committing the atrocities. "I lost my humanity. . . . The more I killed, the more I would enjoy it," remembers one man.

Others say peer pressure was a factor. The war veterans, who would often beat and humiliate new Japanese army recruits, called them cowardly if they did not participate in the crimes.

Nationalism, of course, was the greatest spur. These onetime fanatical Japanese nationalists showed no qualms about murdering and raping if they thought it would further the cause of Japan and increase the glory of the Emperor.

(The emperor was later absolved of all war crimes by the Tokyo War Crimes Trial, an act that enabled responsibility to be shifted to a select few in the military command.)

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Toward the end of the film, it transpires that these men had actually been punished for their crimes. In 1945, 570,000 Japanese soldiers surrendered to China, and were imprisoned in Siberia. Five years later, after the Communist victory, 1,100 were sent back to China for "re-education." The documentary says that they were treated humanely, forced to see the evil in their actions and returned to Japan in 1956 with a warning "not to invade China again."

The 14 were among that number. Nowadays, they want to tell of their activities so that Japanese youngsters will know the truth about what took place during the war.

"I am now 80 years old," says Masao Shikada. "For the rest of my days, I will talk about the war of invasion. . . . I must find a way to tell future generations that we must never commit such transgressions again," Shikada adds.

"That is the very least I can do to atone for my sins."

March 17, 2002

Richard James Havis

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