Beginning in late 1945 national courts convened to prosecute Japanese military personnel for war crimes. The defendants included ethnic Koreans and Taiwanese who had served with the armed forces as Japanese subjects. From the first investigations during the war to the final release of prisoners in 1958, Japanese War Criminals shows how a simple effort to punish the guilty evolved into a multidimensional struggle that muddied the assignment of criminal responsibility for war crimes. Over time, indignation in Japan over Allied military actions, particularly the deployment of the atomic bombs, eclipsed anger over Japanese atrocities, and, among the Western powers, new Cold War imperatives took hold. This book makes a unique contribution to our understanding of the construction of the postwar international order in Asia and to our comprehension of the difficulties of implementing transitional justice.

Introduction -- Defining war crimes and creating courts -- Investigation and arrest -- In court : indictment, trial, and sentencing -- Dilemmas of detention and the first misgivings -- Shifting mood, shifting location -- Peace and Article 11 -- Japanese pressure mounts -- Finding a formula for release -- The race to clear Sugamo -- Conclusion.