Inner-Prisoner Relations at Sugamo Prison

by Kokoro Igawa

Sugamo Prison was a distinct environment unlike any other—suspected and condemned Japanese war criminals were incarcerated on Japanese soil by the victorious American occupation in the postwar period. With a diverse inmate population ranging from high-profile wartime bureaucrats and politicians to their subordinate military personnel and a group of young American guards, the relationships that formed between such vastly different people serve as valuable insight into the inner workings of Sugamo Prison and the varying attitudes held by prisoners and guards alike. 

The accused Japanese war criminals were categorized into three classes depending on the role they played in the wartime atrocities. Class-A war criminals were those accused of “crimes against peace” and were primarily high-ranking leaders of wartime Japan who had planned and waged wars of aggression. Class-B and Class-C war criminals were those accused of “conventional war crimes” and “crimes against humanity,” respectively, and included people of any rank (Ginn 1992, 6-7). In total, 4,726 people are thought to have passed through postwar Sugamo Prison, which included suspected and convicted war criminals of all three classes (Wilson 2011, 171). 

Photograph of Sugamo Prison in 1949, Wikimedia Commons.

The relationships between Class-A prisoners and Class-B/C prisoners were largely shaped by their hierarchical positions during the war. Many Class-B/C prisoners blamed the Class-A persons for their incarceration. If it were not for the wartime politicians’ incompetence and heedless orders, they believed, Class-B/C people likely would not have been imprisoned (Kodama 1960, 37). They claimed that they were simply following the orders of their superiors, and the ultimate responsibility for the atrocities committed during the war lay in the hands of the Class-A prisoners (Yamaguchi 2013, 60). Forced to live among one another, the Class-A people’s faces served as reminders of why they were in prison and an easy target of blame (Kodama 1960, 73). This sentiment was generally echoed by the public, especially a few years into the postwar era. Culpability for Japan’s wartime offenses was increasingly shifted away from Class-B/C prisoners, who were seen as victims of their circumstances instead of deviant criminals. The Class-B/C prisoners appealed to this distinction and further set themselves apart from Class-A prisoners (Wilson 2011, 172-173). 

Tobita Tokio effectively captured this deep divide between the classes through his art. Tobita was a Class-C war crimes suspect who drew sketches of memorable or poignant scenes in the prison. Many such drawings depicted “how far the mighty had fallen” and how the prison environment forcefully stripped Class-A suspects of their titles, material riches, and “outward accoutrement” (Powell and Du 2015, 4; Kodama 1960, 235). Once-high-ranked officers and even a member of the Imperial Family—Prince Nashimoto—used communal baths, lined up for meager rations at mealtime, and were strip-searched by the American guards. For Class-B/C suspects like Tobita, such moral degradation of the very Class-A suspects they believed to be most culpable for Japan’s wartime atrocities was a comical moment of irony worth commemorating (Powell and Du 2015, 4). 

Despite being hypothetically forced onto a level playing field in Sugamo Prison, the Class-A prisoners were afforded certain privileges that were denied to Class-B/C prisoners. According to the latter group, the Class-A prisoners received preferential treatment from the American guards and were exempt from hard labor (Yamaguchi 2013, 56). This only exacerbated the already fervent resentment toward their wartime leaders, driving some Class-B/C prisoners to approach the gate dividing the two groups and directly yell at the Class-A prisoners. Distressed by these confrontations, the Class-A prisoners eventually requested that this gate be blocked off to protect them from verbal attacks from their former subordinates (Utsumi 2004, 91-92).

However, the deep respect for elders ingrained in traditional Japanese culture further complicated these relationships at times. The younger Class-B/C prisoners maintained that the Class-A elders deserved a “certain amount of respect” (Kodama 1960, 31). As such, the Class-B/C prisoners often stepped up to help the older men when they could and would even bow to them to express their respect. 

Age-related hierarchies similarly complicated relations among Class-A suspects. Kodama Yoshio wrote in his diary about an interaction he had with Nobutaka Shioten, a fellow Class-A suspect who frequently evaded his work detail by claiming that his hernia was causing him too much pain. Kodama would then see Shioten in his cell, calmly reading a book. Kodama writes, “I couldn’t help but assure him, ‘We younger ones will take over your work detail for you’” (Kodama 1960, 209). 

“Mugshot” of Kodama Yoshio at Sugamo Prison, 1946, Wikimedia Commons.

Despite being united by their shared wartime authority, Class-A prisoners were not a monolithic group. Among them, some were stubborn and unwilling to let go of their bygone power, flaunting their old ranks and dreaming of the “good old days” (Kodama 1960, 97). Others like Kodama criticized this attitude and seemingly took pride in adopting a more pragmatic perspective (Kodama 1960, 241). 

Prisoners of all three classes were also divided based on whether they had been indicted or were awaiting trial. Part of this division was infrastructural, owing to their separate facilities and cells, but part of it was also emotional. The condemned were a tangible reflection of the fears of those awaiting trial—on any day, it could become their reality (Kodama 1960, 164). 

Beyond the tense relationships among prisoners, at times, prisoners formed unexpected connections with the American guards. Despite the occupier-occupied relationship, interactions between prisoners and the Americans seemed to have been relatively amicable. General Douglas MacArthur, who oversaw the U.S.-led Allied Powers’ occupation of Japan, was adamant about ensuring that the American soldiers stationed at Sugamo Prison were those who had never engaged in combat against the Japanese during the war (Dailey 2021). These young men had grown up hearing about enemy Japan’s atrocities, but struggled to reconcile these stories with their lived experiences with the Japanese prisoners in Sugamo. Instead, the Japanese men in Sugamo seemed “intelligent, docile, interesting, and often humorous” (Ginn 1992, 34).

Photograph of the Guard Soldiers at Sugamo Prison, 1948, Wikimedia Commons.

Some Class-A prisoners like Kodama Yoshio, however, maintained a deep sense of respect for the Americans and the just treatment they experienced. Kodama’s diary reveals a reverence for American culture and his perception of each soldier’s unwavering commitment to democracy and justice (Kodama 1960, 117). He repeatedly condemns Japanese culture and asserts that the nation has much to learn from its occupiers about democracy and people’s rights (Kodama 1960, 192-193). Though American hypocrisy was clear in the fighter planes that flew above Sugamo Prison, this did not translate into less respect for the American occupation and its supposed democratization and demilitarization campaign (Kodama 1960, 264-265). 

Though some Class-B/C prisoners forged friendly relationships with the American guards—like Tobita Tokio through his aforementioned drawings—many of these prisoners fostered resentment toward their jailors. While their Class-A counterparts received favorable treatment, they alleged being subject to unfair and inhumane practices at the hands of the “white devils” (Wilson 2008, 200). This sentiment grew stronger when the Sugamo Peace Movement was born and shed light on the inherent hypocrisy of America’s continued war efforts in places like Korea. This movement, led mostly by Class-B/C prisoners, caused greater rifts between them and American guards and also exacerbated tensions between Class-A and Class-B/C prisoners (Takeshi 2004, 2). 

Inner-prisoner relations in Sugamo Prison were complex and shaped by a variety of historical, cultural, and political factors. Tensions ebbed and flowed as internal prison conditions and external global affairs shifted. Both the unexpected and expected relationships that formed serve as valuable insight into the attitudes of the prisoners and how they understood their positionality in the unstable and uncertain postwar period.
Sources:
Dailey, Hannah. “Sugamo Prison and the Tokyo Trials.” The National WWII Museum | New Orleans, May 20, 2021. https://www.nationalww2museum.org/war/articles/sugamo-prison-and-tokyo-trials.
Ginn, John L. Sugamo Prison, Tokyo: An Account of the Trial and Sentencing of Japanese War Criminals in 1948, by a U.S Participant. McFarland & Company, 1992.
Kodama, Yoshio. Sugamo Diary. Translated by Taro Fukuda, 1960.
Powell, Lindsey, and Chunmei Du. 2015. “Escaping Sugamo Prison with a No. 2 Pencil: The Drawings of Japanese War Criminal Tobita Tokio.” Visual Studies 30 (1): 1–19. doi:10.1080/1472586X.2015.996384.
Takeshi, Ishida. 2004. “A Foreign Country in Japan: Sugamo Prison.” Asia-Pacific Journal 2, no. 7 : e13. https://doi.org/10.1017/S1557466004000671.
Utsumi, Aiko. 2004, Sugamo Purizun: Senpantachi no heiwa undo. Tokyo: Yoshikawa Kobunkan, 2004. 
Wilson, Sandra. 2008. “War, Soldier and Nation in 1950s Japan.” International Journal of Asian Studies 5, no. 2 (2008): 187–218. https://doi.org/10.1017/S1479591408000016. 
Wilson, Sandra. 2011. “Prisoners in Sugamo and Their Campaign for Release, 1952–1953.” Japanese Studies 31 (2): 171–90. doi:10.1080/10371397.2011.591780.
Yamaguchi, Noriko. 2013. “Writing New Japan in Sugamo, 1948-1952: The Allied Occupation and Conflicted Democracy.” The Prison Journal 94 (1): 52–74. https://doi.org/10.1177/0032885513512089.