(November 1922 – May 2007) was a former medic in the
Imperial Japanese Navy
The Imperial Japanese Navy (IJN; Kyūjitai: Shinjitai: ' 'Navy of the Greater Japanese Empire', or ''Nippon Kaigun'', 'Japanese Navy') was the navy of the Empire of Japan from 1868 to 1945, when it was dissolved following Japan's surrend ...
who, in 2006, became the first
Japanese
Japanese may refer to:
* Something from or related to Japan, an island country in East Asia
* Japanese language, spoken mainly in Japan
* Japanese people, the ethnic group that identifies with Japan through ancestry or culture
** Japanese diaspor ...
ex-soldier to admit to the
experiments conducted on human beings in the
Philippines
The Philippines (; fil, Pilipinas, links=no), officially the Republic of the Philippines ( fil, Republika ng Pilipinas, links=no),
* bik, Republika kan Filipinas
* ceb, Republika sa Pilipinas
* cbk, República de Filipinas
* hil, Republ ...
during
World War II
World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposing ...
.
Early life
Makino was born in 1922, in a small town in
Osaka Prefecture. At the start of World War II, he was assigned to the navy's No. 33 patrol. In August 1944, at the age of 22, he was transferred to an air base in
Zamboanga on
Mindanao Island
Mindanao ( ) ( Jawi: مينداناو) is the second-largest island in the Philippines, after Luzon, and seventh-most populous island in the world. Located in the southern region of the archipelago, the island is part of an island group of t ...
, in the Philippines.
Human experiments
According to Makino, experimentation on about 30 prisoners was carried out between December 1944 and February 1945. The prisoners were mostly
Moro Muslims,
Parry, "The Times" ''Dissect them alive: order not to be disobeyed'' 2007.
/ref> and included women and children, as well as two Filipino
Filipino may refer to:
* Something from or related to the Philippines
** Filipino language, standardized variety of 'Tagalog', the national language and one of the official languages of the Philippines.
** Filipinos, people who are citizens of th ...
men suspected of spying for the United States
The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territori ...
.["Japanese doctor admits POW abuse"](_blank)
BBC News, 26-11-2006. Retrieved on 07-02-2007. Makino performed operations on these prisoners including amputations, abdominal dissections and other experiments. In his interview with the Kyodo News Agency, he described, in particular, his experience with the two Filipino men suspected of spying. He said he sedated the men by placing ether
In organic chemistry, ethers are a class of compounds that contain an ether group—an oxygen atom connected to two alkyl or aryl groups. They have the general formula , where R and R′ represent the alkyl or aryl groups. Ethers can again be ...
-soaked cloth over their mouths, and then was instructed to study their livers after making an incision with a surgical knife.["Japanese veteran admits vivisection tests on PoWs"](_blank)
Guardian Unlimited, 27-11-2006. Retrieved on 07-02-2007. Makino stated that, at the time, he thought it was a "horrible" thing that he was doing, but that he was too scared to refuse orders because he would have been killed for disobedience.
Revelation
After remaining silent for decades, Makino revealed details to the public in 2006. Makino's account is one of only a few from Japanese veterans concerning human experimentation in Southeast Asia
Southeast Asia, also spelled South East Asia and South-East Asia, and also known as Southeastern Asia, South-eastern Asia or SEA, is the geographical south-eastern region of Asia, consisting of the regions that are situated south of mainlan ...
during World War II.
See also
* Japanese war crimes
*Ken Yuasa Ken Yuasa (Japanese: 湯浅 謙) (October 23, 1916 – November 2, 2010) was a World War II surgeon for the Japanese army who had been a member of the infamous Unit 731. During his service in occupied China, he (along with at least 1000 other ...
*Unit 731
, short for Manshu Detachment 731 and also known as the Kamo Detachment and Ishii Unit, was a covert Biological warfare, biological and chemical warfare research and development unit of the Imperial Japanese Army that engaged in unethical h ...
* South-East Asian theatre of World War II
*Military history of the Philippines during World War II
The Commonwealth of the Philippines was attacked by the Empire of Japan on 8 December 1941, nine hours after the attack on Pearl Harbor (the Philippines is on the Asian side of the international date line). Although it was governed by a semi-ind ...
References
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External links
Act and Unite to Stop the War, Osaka (A&U大阪)
(in Japanese
Japanese may refer to:
* Something from or related to Japan, an island country in East Asia
* Japanese language, spoken mainly in Japan
* Japanese people, the ethnic group that identifies with Japan through ancestry or culture
** Japanese diaspor ...
)
{{DEFAULTSORT:Makino, Akira
1922 births
Japanese human subject research
Japanese military personnel of World War II
South-East Asian theatre of World War II
Military history of the Philippines during World War II
2007 deaths