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      • Unit 731 - Guide >
        • Background of Biochemical Warfare Development
        • Imperial Japan's Chemical Warfare Development Program
        • Map of Unit 731
        • Personnel of Unit 731
        • Duties of Unit 731
        • Human Experimentation
        • [GRAPHIC] Germ Warfare Attacks
        • Cover Ups After the War
        • [OLD] Cover Ups After the War
      • Philippines' Resistance - Guide >
        • Philippines World War II Timeline
        • The Japanese Invasion & Conquest of the Philippines
        • Bataan Death March
        • Formation of Underground Philippines Resistance
        • Supplies of the Guerrilla Fighters
        • The Hukbalahap
        • Hunter's ROTC
        • Marking's Guerrillas
        • United States Army Forces in the Philippines of Northern Luzon (USAFIP-NL)
        • The Aetas
        • Chinese and Filipino-Chinese Nationalist Guerrilla Units
        • The Female Faces of the Philippine Guerrillas
      • Rising Sun Flag - Guide >
        • History of the Rising Sun Flag
        • Atrocities Committed Under the Flag
        • Rising Sun Flag in Pop Culture
      • Pinay Guerrilleras - Guide >
        • Japanese Occupation of the Philippine Islands: Pinays Answering the Call to Arms
        • The Fierce Heneralas and Kumanders of the Hukbalahap Guerrillas
        • Amazons of the Pacific Theater
        • Filipina American Veterans: Recovering the Extraordinary Feats of the Ordinary Pinays
        • The Legacy of the Asian Women Soldier
      • Fall of Singapore - Guide >
        • Singapore World War II Timeline
        • History of World War II in the Pacific
        • History of Singapore
        • Japan's Conquest in Asia
        • Japan's Invasion of the Malay Peninsula
        • Sook Ching Massacre
        • Double Tenth Incident
        • Social Changes and Challenges in Singapore
        • Voices from Syonan
        • Return to British Rule
      • Three Years and Eight Months - Guide >
        • Hong Kong before WW2
        • Buildup to World War 2
        • The Battle of Hong Kong
        • Life during 3 Years and 8 Months
        • East River Column Guerrilla Fighters
        • Prisoners of War Camps
        • End of Japanese Occupation
        • War Crimes Trials
      • Siamese Sovereignty - Guide >
        • The Land of Smiles
        • The Thai-Japanese Relationship
        • Phibun’s Domestic and International Policies
        • The Free Thai Resistance Movement
        • Post WW2 Aftermath of Thailand
      • The Khabarovsk War Crimes Trial - Guide >
        • Defendants of Khabarovsk War Crime
        • The Japanese Empire and USSR in WW2
        • The Employment of the Bacteriological Weapon in the War
        • Planning of Japan invasion to USSR
      • Unit 731 Cover-up : The Operation Paperclip of the East - Guide >
        • Establishing Manchukuo
        • The Development of Unit 731
        • Plan Kantokuen and Bacteriological Warfare
        • The Downfall of the Japanese WW2 Era
        • Three Stages of Interrogations
        • Lasting Impacts
      • Marutas of Unit 731 - Guide >
        • How did Ishii Shiro start unit 731?
        • A Beta Testing Site
        • Establishing Pingfan
        • Experiences at the Human Experimentation Complex
        • Vivisection at the Unit 731
        • Anta Testing Grounds
        • Overall Advance from the Laboratory Creations
        • The End of the War
      • Prince Konoe Memoir - Guide >
        • Who is Prince Konoe?
        • Preparation to Tripartite Pact
        • Emperor Hirohito and Prince Konoe
        • The End of Prince Konoe
      • Competing Empires in Burma - Guide >
        • What was the China-Burma-India Theater?
        • When did the China-Burma-India Theater Happen?
        • Who Fought in the China-Burma-India Theater?
        • The Second Sino Japanese War
        • Japan in the South
        • Operation U-Go
      • Battle of Shanghai - Guide >
        • The Battle of Shanghai. Background
        • Shanghai Before War
        • The First Battle of Shanghai 1932
        • Battle of Shanghai 1937
        • Aftermath of Battle for Shanghai
      • Ishi Shiro - Guide >
        • History of Biological Weapons and The Young Ishii Shiro
        • Establishment in Manchuria
        • Pingfang District - Harbin
        • Failures and Corruption
        • Post War
      • Taiwan The Israel of the East - Guide >
        • Background of Formosa
        • Industrialization of Japan
        • China During WWII
        • Taiwan under Kuomintang
        • New Taiwanese National Identity
      • Seeking Justice for Biological Warfare Victims of Unit 731 - Guide >
        • Introduction of Wang Xuan
        • Colonel Memorandum
        • The Beginning of Biological Warfare
        • The Bacteriological Warfare on China
        • Victims in Zhejiang’s Testimonies
        • After the War
      • Rice and Revolution - Guide >
        • The French Colonial Period
        • Anti-Colonial Resistance
        • The Rise of the Communist Movement
        • Imperial Japan’s Entry into Indochina
        • The Portents of Famine
        • The Famine (1944-45)
        • Legacy of the 1944-45 Vietnam Famine
      • Clash of Empires - Guide >
        • Japan’s Imperialist Origins
        • Japan’s Competition against the West: Nanshin-ron and Hokushin-ron
        • Japanese Imperialism Through the Lens of French Indochina
        • The U.S.-Japan Relations and the Pearl Harbor Attack
      • Hunger for Power and Self-SufficiencyI - Guide >
        • The Influence of War Rations on Post-War Culinary Transformations
        • How World War II Complicated Food Scarcity and Invention
        • American Military Innovations
        • Government-Sponsored Food Inventions in Europe during World War II
        • Feeding the Army: The Adaptation of Japanese Military Cuisine and Its Impact on the Philippines
        • Mixed Dishes: Culinary Innovations Driven by Necessity and Food Scarcity
      • Denial A Quick Look of History of Comfort Women and Present Days’ Complication - Guide >
        • The Comfort Women System and the Fight for Recognition
        • The Role of Activism and International Pressure
        • The Controversy over Japanese History Textbooks
        • The Sonyŏsang Statue and the Symbolism of Public Memorials
        • Activism and Support from Japanese Citizens
        • The Future of Comfort Women Memorials and Education
      • Echoes of Empire: The Power of Japanese Propaganda - Guide >
        • Brief Overview of Imperial Japan
        • Defining Propaganda
        • Propaganda Encouraging Action​
        • The Rise of Nationalism
        • The Formation of Japanese State Propaganda
        • Youth and Education
      • Shadows of the Rising Sun: The Black Dragon Society and the Dawn of Pan-Asianism - Guide >
        • Origins of the Black Dragon Society
        • The Influence of Pan-Asianism
        • Relationship with Sun Yat-sen
        • The Role in Southeast Asia
        • The Spread of Ideology and Espionage
        • Disbandment and Legacy
      • Chongqing Bombing: The Forgotten Blitz of Asia and Its Lasting Impact - Guide >
        • Introduction and Historical Background
        • The Class Divide During the Bombings
        • Resilience and Unity of Chongqing
        • Key Incidents - Great Tunnel Massacre
        • The Aftermath of the Bombings
        • Legacy and Commemoration
      • Shanghai's International Zone: A Nexus of War, Intelligence, and Survival - Guide >
        • Historical Background
        • The International Zone
        • Battles in Shanghai
        • Civilian Intelligence Efforts
        • Wartime Brutality
        • Aftermath & Legacy
    • Lesson Plans >
      • Reparations
      • Ethics in Science
      • Writing the Narrative of a Pinay Fighter
      • Privilege Journal
      • Environmental Injustices
      • Female Guerrillas
      • Hunter's ROTC
      • Scientific Advancements
      • Seeking Justice: A Humanities Lesson Plan
      • The Hukbalahap
      • Trading Immunity
      • Bataan Death March
      • Biochemical Warfare Development
  • History Remembered
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Ishii Shiro: Josef Mengele of the East

by Jenny Chan


Ishii Shiro: Josef Mengele of the East book cover
Order on Amazon
The Japanese occupation of Manchuria promised many opportunities for young scientists who wanted to utilize their training and curiosity to advance Japanese military capabilities. Recently graduated medical student Ishii Shiro seized this occasion, and with funding from the War Ministry of Imperial Japan, founded Unit 731, a biological and chemical warfare research and development arm of the IJA. With consent and funding from the military and government, he recruited the brightest minds from Japan to conduct fatal human experimentation, develop bubonic plague bombs to unleash on nearby villages, and test biological and chemical weapons. 

Within a few years, he rapidly climbed the ranks, going from Captain to General for the Imperial Japanese Army. His impact and power overshadowed his European counterpart, Josef Mengele. After the war, he faked his death, but the CIA was able to locate him. However, he negotiated immunity and was never brought to justice in what came to be known as the elaborate American coverup of Japanese war crimes.

Ishii Shiro: Josef Mengele of the East is a biography based on declassified documents found in the National Archives and Records Administration. This book includes documents from the CIA, Far East Asia Command Center, U.S. Naval Operations, the Khabavosk War Crimes Trial, and precords that survived by chance in Tokyo. 
 Double click on the timeline to return to original size!

Who was Ishii Shiro?

  • a husband, and later, a father
  • a trained surgeon and physician
  • ​director of Unit 731 during the Second Sino-Japanese War
  • a Japanese officer responsible for > 500,000 innocent deaths
  • a key crafter of Operation Cherry Blossoms at Night, a plan by Japan to unleash the bubonic plague on American citizens in Southern CA (never carried out due to the end of the war)
  • a war criminal who received immunity by the U.S. after WWII
  • a man who, upon death, received an extravagant funeral chaired by his second-in-command at Unit 731 despite the fact that both of their German counterparts responsible for large-scale murder in Europe had been executed by death penalty decades prior

What was Unit 731?

  • the brainchild of Ishii Shiro
  • a bioweapons facility under Ishii's direction during the course of WWII/Pacific War/Second Sino-Japanese War
  • a cluster of buildings spanning > 2 sq. miles in Eastern China 
  • where thousands of Allied POWs, Russians, Chinese died
  • where 3,000 Japanese doctors and scientists conducted bacteriological experiments using live, forced human test subjects
  • where surgeons performed live amputations, dissections, and vivisections on human captives they referred to as "logs"
  • a prison camp where enough germs were created to kill the world population 3x over
  • a place forgotten by the West due to an post-WWII elaborate coverup

    

"Our God-given mission is to challenge all varieties of disease-causing microorganisms…to block all roads of intrusion into the human body; to annihilate all foreign matter resident in our bodies; and to devise the most expeditious treatment possible...  [but the new approach to research in medicine must be] based upon the dual thrill of 1), a scientist to exert efforts… probing for the truth in natural science and research into, and discovery of, the unknown world and 2), as a military person, to successfully build a powerful military weapon against the enemy." 

Ishii Shiro's message to Unit 731 faculty
​Military Medical Ethics, Vol. 2, Ch 16: "Japanese Biomedical Experimentation During the World-War-II Era" by Sheldon H. Harris, PhD.


"General Ishii Shiro was working on a far greater scale than his German counterpart Josef Mengele. Compared to Ishii Shiro, Josef Mengele would have been only one of hundreds of similar workers in Unit 731, following orders. An example of the hypocrisy of the Allies following World War II is that they hunted Mengele down in the jungle like the animal he was. Yet many of the researchers of Unit 731 were professors of Japanese Universities and directors of Japanese medical companies and Ishii Shiro died in American occupied Japan fourteen years after the war." 

Gregory Dean Byrd, Unit 731 Historian, in "General Ishii Shiro: His Legacy is That of Genius and Madman" (2005)

Picture

Learn more about the life and legacy of Ishii Shiro, a man whose ambition allowed him to scale the ranks of the Japanese Army, and figure largely forgotten about by the West. 

Get Your Copy Now!
"Ishii was brilliant, unstable, charismatic, flamboyant, mercurial, and a spell-binding advocate for causes he supported. He was also an ultranationalist, who sought fervently to further his country’s leadership role in Asia and, at the same time, to advance his career through the promotion of BW research... Ishii had created a BW empire and he was its sovereign ruler."

-Dr. Sheldon H. Harris, historian & author of Factories of Death

Related Books


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Related Blog Posts


The Forgotten Asian Auschwitz
Unit 731- The Secret Japanese Military Testing Facility for Biological Warfare
Forced Pregnancy of Unit 731​
Marutas in Manchuria: Imperial Japanese Biological Warfare, 1931-1945
Background of Unit 731​
Members of Unit 731
​
Auschwitz and Unit 731 at a Glance
​Russian Victims of Unit 731: From Expatriates to Experiments
​
The Khabarovsk War Crimes Trial - Unearthing Biological Warfare in WWII
​
The Khabarovsk War Crimes Trial - Unearthing Biological Warfare in WWII (continued)
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  • Home
    • About >
      • FAQ's - Frequently Asked Questions
    • Support Us >
      • Projects you can support! >
        • Distributing Books
        • Presenting at 112th Annual Meeting of Pacific Coast Branch
        • Summer Research Relocation Fund
    • Contact
  • Stories
    • Videos >
      • Black Hearts (2021)
    • Blog
    • Podcast: Forgotten History
  • Internship
    • Summer 2025 Internship
    • Spring 2025 Internship
    • Summer 2024 Internship
    • Summer 2023 Internship
    • Fall 2022 Internship
    • Summer 2022 Internship
    • Summer 2021 Internship
    • Fall 2020- Spring 2021 Internship
    • Summer 2020 Internship
    • Fall 2019 Internship
    • Summer 2019 Internship >
      • Public History Night
    • School Year 2018-2019 Internship
    • Summer 2018 Internship >
      • 2018 Summer Showcase + Fundraiser
    • Fall 2017 Internship
    • Summer 2017 Internship >
      • 2017 Summer Showcase & Fundraiser
  • Books
  • Archives
  • Resource Page
    • Supplementary Research Guides >
      • Unit 731 - Guide >
        • Background of Biochemical Warfare Development
        • Imperial Japan's Chemical Warfare Development Program
        • Map of Unit 731
        • Personnel of Unit 731
        • Duties of Unit 731
        • Human Experimentation
        • [GRAPHIC] Germ Warfare Attacks
        • Cover Ups After the War
        • [OLD] Cover Ups After the War
      • Philippines' Resistance - Guide >
        • Philippines World War II Timeline
        • The Japanese Invasion & Conquest of the Philippines
        • Bataan Death March
        • Formation of Underground Philippines Resistance
        • Supplies of the Guerrilla Fighters
        • The Hukbalahap
        • Hunter's ROTC
        • Marking's Guerrillas
        • United States Army Forces in the Philippines of Northern Luzon (USAFIP-NL)
        • The Aetas
        • Chinese and Filipino-Chinese Nationalist Guerrilla Units
        • The Female Faces of the Philippine Guerrillas
      • Rising Sun Flag - Guide >
        • History of the Rising Sun Flag
        • Atrocities Committed Under the Flag
        • Rising Sun Flag in Pop Culture
      • Pinay Guerrilleras - Guide >
        • Japanese Occupation of the Philippine Islands: Pinays Answering the Call to Arms
        • The Fierce Heneralas and Kumanders of the Hukbalahap Guerrillas
        • Amazons of the Pacific Theater
        • Filipina American Veterans: Recovering the Extraordinary Feats of the Ordinary Pinays
        • The Legacy of the Asian Women Soldier
      • Fall of Singapore - Guide >
        • Singapore World War II Timeline
        • History of World War II in the Pacific
        • History of Singapore
        • Japan's Conquest in Asia
        • Japan's Invasion of the Malay Peninsula
        • Sook Ching Massacre
        • Double Tenth Incident
        • Social Changes and Challenges in Singapore
        • Voices from Syonan
        • Return to British Rule
      • Three Years and Eight Months - Guide >
        • Hong Kong before WW2
        • Buildup to World War 2
        • The Battle of Hong Kong
        • Life during 3 Years and 8 Months
        • East River Column Guerrilla Fighters
        • Prisoners of War Camps
        • End of Japanese Occupation
        • War Crimes Trials
      • Siamese Sovereignty - Guide >
        • The Land of Smiles
        • The Thai-Japanese Relationship
        • Phibun’s Domestic and International Policies
        • The Free Thai Resistance Movement
        • Post WW2 Aftermath of Thailand
      • The Khabarovsk War Crimes Trial - Guide >
        • Defendants of Khabarovsk War Crime
        • The Japanese Empire and USSR in WW2
        • The Employment of the Bacteriological Weapon in the War
        • Planning of Japan invasion to USSR
      • Unit 731 Cover-up : The Operation Paperclip of the East - Guide >
        • Establishing Manchukuo
        • The Development of Unit 731
        • Plan Kantokuen and Bacteriological Warfare
        • The Downfall of the Japanese WW2 Era
        • Three Stages of Interrogations
        • Lasting Impacts
      • Marutas of Unit 731 - Guide >
        • How did Ishii Shiro start unit 731?
        • A Beta Testing Site
        • Establishing Pingfan
        • Experiences at the Human Experimentation Complex
        • Vivisection at the Unit 731
        • Anta Testing Grounds
        • Overall Advance from the Laboratory Creations
        • The End of the War
      • Prince Konoe Memoir - Guide >
        • Who is Prince Konoe?
        • Preparation to Tripartite Pact
        • Emperor Hirohito and Prince Konoe
        • The End of Prince Konoe
      • Competing Empires in Burma - Guide >
        • What was the China-Burma-India Theater?
        • When did the China-Burma-India Theater Happen?
        • Who Fought in the China-Burma-India Theater?
        • The Second Sino Japanese War
        • Japan in the South
        • Operation U-Go
      • Battle of Shanghai - Guide >
        • The Battle of Shanghai. Background
        • Shanghai Before War
        • The First Battle of Shanghai 1932
        • Battle of Shanghai 1937
        • Aftermath of Battle for Shanghai
      • Ishi Shiro - Guide >
        • History of Biological Weapons and The Young Ishii Shiro
        • Establishment in Manchuria
        • Pingfang District - Harbin
        • Failures and Corruption
        • Post War
      • Taiwan The Israel of the East - Guide >
        • Background of Formosa
        • Industrialization of Japan
        • China During WWII
        • Taiwan under Kuomintang
        • New Taiwanese National Identity
      • Seeking Justice for Biological Warfare Victims of Unit 731 - Guide >
        • Introduction of Wang Xuan
        • Colonel Memorandum
        • The Beginning of Biological Warfare
        • The Bacteriological Warfare on China
        • Victims in Zhejiang’s Testimonies
        • After the War
      • Rice and Revolution - Guide >
        • The French Colonial Period
        • Anti-Colonial Resistance
        • The Rise of the Communist Movement
        • Imperial Japan’s Entry into Indochina
        • The Portents of Famine
        • The Famine (1944-45)
        • Legacy of the 1944-45 Vietnam Famine
      • Clash of Empires - Guide >
        • Japan’s Imperialist Origins
        • Japan’s Competition against the West: Nanshin-ron and Hokushin-ron
        • Japanese Imperialism Through the Lens of French Indochina
        • The U.S.-Japan Relations and the Pearl Harbor Attack
      • Hunger for Power and Self-SufficiencyI - Guide >
        • The Influence of War Rations on Post-War Culinary Transformations
        • How World War II Complicated Food Scarcity and Invention
        • American Military Innovations
        • Government-Sponsored Food Inventions in Europe during World War II
        • Feeding the Army: The Adaptation of Japanese Military Cuisine and Its Impact on the Philippines
        • Mixed Dishes: Culinary Innovations Driven by Necessity and Food Scarcity
      • Denial A Quick Look of History of Comfort Women and Present Days’ Complication - Guide >
        • The Comfort Women System and the Fight for Recognition
        • The Role of Activism and International Pressure
        • The Controversy over Japanese History Textbooks
        • The Sonyŏsang Statue and the Symbolism of Public Memorials
        • Activism and Support from Japanese Citizens
        • The Future of Comfort Women Memorials and Education
      • Echoes of Empire: The Power of Japanese Propaganda - Guide >
        • Brief Overview of Imperial Japan
        • Defining Propaganda
        • Propaganda Encouraging Action​
        • The Rise of Nationalism
        • The Formation of Japanese State Propaganda
        • Youth and Education
      • Shadows of the Rising Sun: The Black Dragon Society and the Dawn of Pan-Asianism - Guide >
        • Origins of the Black Dragon Society
        • The Influence of Pan-Asianism
        • Relationship with Sun Yat-sen
        • The Role in Southeast Asia
        • The Spread of Ideology and Espionage
        • Disbandment and Legacy
      • Chongqing Bombing: The Forgotten Blitz of Asia and Its Lasting Impact - Guide >
        • Introduction and Historical Background
        • The Class Divide During the Bombings
        • Resilience and Unity of Chongqing
        • Key Incidents - Great Tunnel Massacre
        • The Aftermath of the Bombings
        • Legacy and Commemoration
      • Shanghai's International Zone: A Nexus of War, Intelligence, and Survival - Guide >
        • Historical Background
        • The International Zone
        • Battles in Shanghai
        • Civilian Intelligence Efforts
        • Wartime Brutality
        • Aftermath & Legacy
    • Lesson Plans >
      • Reparations
      • Ethics in Science
      • Writing the Narrative of a Pinay Fighter
      • Privilege Journal
      • Environmental Injustices
      • Female Guerrillas
      • Hunter's ROTC
      • Scientific Advancements
      • Seeking Justice: A Humanities Lesson Plan
      • The Hukbalahap
      • Trading Immunity
      • Bataan Death March
      • Biochemical Warfare Development
  • History Remembered
Contribute