Shirō Ishii

Surgeon GeneralShirō Ishii(Japanese:石井 四郎,Hepburn:Ishii Shirō,[iɕiː ɕiɾoː]; June 25, 1892 – October 9, 1959)was a Japanesemicrobiologistandarmy medical officer, who served as the director ofUnit 731, abiological warfareunit of theImperial Japanese Army. Ishii led the development and application ofbiological weaponsat Unit 731 inChinaduring theSecond Sino-Japanese Warfrom 1937 to 1945, including thebubonic plagueattacksat Chinese cities ofChangdeandNingbo, and planned theOperation Cherry Blossoms at Nightbiological attack against the United States.Emperor Showarewarded him with a special service medal for his work.
Ishii and his colleagues also engaged inhuman experimentation, resulting in the deaths of over 10,000 subjects, most of them civilians or prisoners of war.
Shirō Ishii was born inShibayamainChiba Prefecture,Japan, the fourth son of Katsuya Ishii, a wealthy landowner andsakemaker. The Ishii family was the community's largest landholder and exercised a feudal dominance over the local village and surrounding hamlets. Ishii attended the Chiba Middle School (now Chiba Prefectural Chiba High School) inChiba Cityand theFourth Higher School(nowKanazawa University), ahigher schoolinKanazawa,Ishikawa Prefecture. Some of his classmates regarded him as brash, abrasive and arrogant. His daughter Harumi felt that Shiro had been "unjustly condemned", saying "my father was a very warm-hearted person...he was so bright that people sometimes could not catch up with the speed of his thinking and that made him irritated, and he shouted at them."In 1916, Ishii enrolled at Faculty of Medicine,Kyoto Imperial University. He graduated in 1920, and married the daughter of Akari Torasaburō, the university's president, in the same year.
In 1921, Ishii was commissioned into theImperial Japanese Armyas amilitary surgeonwith the rank of Army Surgeon, First Class (surgeon lieutenant). In 1922, Ishii was assigned to the 1st Army Hospital and Army Medical School inTokyo, where his work impressed his superiors enough to enable him to return to Kyoto Imperial University to pursuepost-graduatemedical schooling in 1924. During his studies, Ishii would often grow bacteria "pets" in multiple petri dishes, and his odd practice of raising bacteria as companions rather than as research subjects made him notable to the staff of the university.He did not get along well with his classmates; they would become infuriated as a result of his "pushy behaviour" and "indifference". One of his mentors, Professor Ren Kimura, recalled that Ishii had an odd habit of doing his laboratory work in the middle of the night, using laboratory equipment that had been carefully cleaned by his classmates earlier. His classmates would "really be mad when they came in and found the laboratory equipment dirty the next morning".In 1925, Ishii was promoted to Army Surgeon, Second Class (surgeon captain).
By 1927, Ishii was advocating for the creation of a Japanesebio-weaponsprogram, and in 1928 began a two-year tour of the West, where he did extensive research on the effects ofbiological warfareandchemical warfaredevelopments fromWorld War Ionwards. Ishii's travels were highly successful and helped win him the patronage ofSadao Araki, the JapaneseMinister of the Army. Ishii also received the backing of Araki's ideological rival in the army, Major-GeneralTetsuzan Nagata, who was later considered Ishii's "most active supporter" at theKhabarovsk War Crime Trials. In January 1931, Ishii received promotion to Senior Army Surgeon, Third Class (surgeon major). According to Ishii's followers, Ishii was extremely loyal to theEmperorand had an "enthusiastic personality" and "daring and carefree attitude", with eccentric work habits such as working late at night in the lab after hanging out with friends at town. He was also known for his heavy drinking, womanizing and embezzling habits, which were tolerated by his colleagues.Ishii was described as a vehement nationalist, and this helped him gain access to the people who could provide him funds.
In 1935, Ishii was promoted to Senior Army Surgeon, Second Class (surgeon lieutenant-colonel). On August 1, 1936, Ishii would be given formal control overUnit 731and its research facilities. A former member of Unit 731 recalled in 1998 that when he first met Ishii in Tokyo, he was surprised at his commander's appearance: "Ishii was slovenly dressed. His uniform was covered with food stains and ashes from numerous cigarettes. His officer's sword was poorly fastened and dragged on the floor". However, inManchuria, Ishii would transform into a different character: "he was dressed immaculately. His uniform was spotless, and his sword was tied correctly".
As the leader of Unit 731, Ishii conducted a variety of experiments, including vivisections,testing biological weapons on Chinese villages,poisoning by toxins and gasesand forcing inmates to inflict syphilis on each other.Ishii also reportedly showedHideki Tojo, who would later become Prime Minister in 1941, films of the experiments over several years. Tojo considered them "unpleasant" and eventually stopped watching them.
Further promotions for Ishii would follow: he was promoted to Senior Army Surgeon, First Class (surgeon colonel) in 1938, Assistant Surgeon General (surgeonMajor General) in March 1941, and Surgeon General (surgeon Lieutenant General) in March 1945.Emperor Showarewarded him with a special service medal.
Towards the end of the war, Ishii would develop a plan to spread plague fleas along the populated west coast of the US, known asOperation Cherry Blossoms at Night. This was targeted for September 22 but the plan was not realized due to the surrender of Japan on August 15, 1945.Ishii and the Japanese government attempted to cover up the facilities and experiments, but ultimately failed with their secret university lab in Tokyo and their main lab inHarbin, China. The Japanese Army's Unit 731 War Crimes Exhibition Hall (731罪证陈列馆) in Harbin stands to this day as a museum to the unit and the atrocities they committed. Estimates for the number of people killed byJapanese biological warfarerange as high as 300,000.Ishii was later granted immunity in theInternational Military Tribunal for the Far Eastby the United States government in exchange for information and research for theU.S. biological warfare program.
Ishii was arrested byUnited Statesauthorities during theOccupation of Japanat the end of World War II and, along with other leaders, was supposed to be thoroughly interrogated by Soviet authorities.Instead, Ishii and his team managed to negotiate and receiveimmunityin 1946 fromJapanese war crimesprosecution before theTokyo tribunalin exchange for their full disclosure.Although the Soviet authorities wished the prosecutions to take place, the United States objected after the reports of a team of militarymicrobiologistsheaded by Lieutenant ColonelMurray Sandersstated that the information was "absolutely invaluable”; it "could never have been obtained in the United States because of scruples attached to experiments on humans" and "the information was obtained fairly cheaply."On May 6, 1947,Douglas MacArthurwrote to Washington that "additional data, possibly some statements from Ishii probably can be obtained by informing Japanese involved that information will be retained in intelligence channels and will not be employed as 'War Crimes' evidence."Ishii's immunity deal was concluded in 1948 and he was never prosecuted for any war crimes or crimes against humanity.
After being granted immunity, Ishii was hired by the U.S. government to lecture American officers atFort Detrickon the uses of bioweapons and the findings made by Unit 731.During theKorean War, Ishii reportedly traveled to Korea to take part in theU.S. Army's alleged biological warfare activities.On 22 February 1952, Ishii was explicitly named in a statement made byNorth KoreanForeign MinisterPak Hon-yong, claiming that he, along with other "Japanese bacteriological war criminals",had been involved in "systematically spreading large quantities of bacteria-carrying insects by aircraft in order to disseminate contagious diseases over our frontline positions and our rear".However, whether the U.S. Army actually used biological weapons against Chinese or North Korean forces, or whether such allegations were mere propaganda, is disputed by historians.
After returning to Japan, Ishii opened a clinic, performing examinations and treatments for free.He kept a diary, but it did not make reference to any of his wartime activities with Unit 731.
In his last years, Ishii could not speak clearly; he was uncomfortable and on pain medication, speaking in a harsh voice. He died on October 9, 1959, fromlaryngeal cancerat the age of 67 at a hospital inShinjuku, Tokyo. Ishii's funeral was chaired byMasaji Kitano, his second-in-command at Unit 731.
According to his daughter, Ishii became aRoman Catholicshortly before his death.
Ishii's daughter, Harumi Ishii, recalled in an interviewthat shortly before his death, Ishii's medical condition worsened:
Ishii was portrayed by Min Ji-hwan in theMBCTV seriesEyes of Dawn, and portrayed by Gang Wang in the 1988 filmMen Behind The Sun.
In the grimdark fantasy novel, The Poppy War, which mirrors the Second Sino-Japanese War, a fictional counterpart of Ishii, named Shiro, performs human experiments in a concentration camp similar to the Hoten