Ken Yuasa

Ken Yuasa (湯浅 謙, October 23, 1916 – November 2, 2010) was a surgeon for the Japanese army who had been a member of the infamous Unit 731 during the Second Sino-Japanese War.

[1] During his service in occupied China, he (along with at least 1000 other doctors and nurses) conducted vivisections on Chinese prisoners and civilians, and provided typhoid and dysentery bacilli to the Japanese army for use in biological warfare.

Yuasa was later put in charge of a clinic where he repeatedly dissected "Communists" delivered to him by the police upon request, all for practice purposes.

Aside from this practice of vivisection, Yuasa also cultivated typhoid germs and supplied these to Japanese troops; the bacterial culture tubes were used to contaminate wells and ponds of villages in Communist-held territory.

[3] Recalling his wartime experiences with Chinese prisoners, Yuasa spoke of how he and his colleagues "laughed and joked" during the vivisections, stating further that "we didn't think there was anything strange about it.

[7] Hoping to act as a reminder to Japan that these atrocities must never be repeated, Yuasa was one of a handful of doctors who eventually confessed their crimes to the Japanese public and the world.

He received harassment and even some violent threats from Japanese ultranationalists, and was advised by former colleagues at the Luan army hospital to "go easy" on his revelations.