ABSTRACT
This chapter investigates the war crimes and atrocities committed by the Japanese are therefore to master the past. It begins with a general analysis of the war crimes tribunals conducted by the Allied nations. After World War II, the Allied nations prosecuted Japanese and German military personnel and civilian collaborators who were alleged to have committed war crimes against Allied soldiers and noncombatants. The Allied nations found the Japanese treatment of POWs in places like the Burma-Thailand railway almost beyond comprehension. Many Japanese have also continued to hold on to the notion that they are “different.” This thinking can even be seen in the work of critical Japanese historians who have attempted to come to terms with Japan’s role in the Asia-Pacific War. Much analysis of Japanese culture by foreign Japanologists and historians has been based on the belief in this uniqueness—both as a blameworthy trait and one to be celebrated.
