Arisan Maru was a 6,886 GRT Type 2A freighter constructed in 1944 during World War II and was one of Imperial Japan's hell ships.

[1] The vessel was named for a mountain in Formosa and was first assigned to transport 6,000 troops of the Kwantung Army from Pusan, Korea to Okinawa.

[3] On October 11, 1944, Arisan Maru embarked 1,782 Allied POWs at Manila, a mix of military personnel and civilian detainees.

Each POW was given eight five-gallon oil cans for their waste, which quickly overflowed due to a number of men afflicted by dysentery.

There, along the Palawan coast, Arisan Maru waited for several days while Allied air raids hit Manila.

[5] On October 21, Arisan Maru departed Manila for the final time, joining convoy MATA-30 heading for Takao.

[5] On October 24, 1944, Arisan Maru, by then traveling alone, was steaming in the Bashi Channel between the Philippines and Taiwan with 1,781 POWs, mostly Americans.

The ship buckled amidships, the engines stopped and the aft mast fell, but the freighter stayed afloat.