List of Videos on the Asia-Pacific War 1931-1945

1. In the Name of the Emperor (52 min - Viewer discretion advised due to the graphic nature of some footage)
   Produced by Christine Choy and Nancy Tong, Film New Now Foundation, 1995. Special Jury Award, San Francisco International Film Festival, 1995
   
   A documentary on The Rape of Nanking. On December 13, 1937, the Japanese Imperial troops invaded and occupied Nanking, then the capital of China, and began a reign of terror the Western press dubbed The Rape of Nanking. Utilizing rare archival film footage, the diaries of western missionaries, eyewitness accounts, and the confessions of Japanese soldiers who spoke of the killings, torture and rapes, this documentary weaves together a horrific tale of the massacre of an estimated 300,000 people, over one third of the city’s population. Primarily as a result of these rampant rapes and the consequent spread of venereal diseases among the soldiers, the Japanese government began operating the now-infamous "comfort stations", forcing women in occupied territories to serve in military brothels. The film raises many vital issues relating to crimes against humanity that have a proper place in classroom discussions of tolerance.

2. Riben Guizi - Confessions of Imperial Army Soldiers from Japan's War Against China (160 min)
   Director: Minoru Matsui, Producer: Ken'ichi Oguri, Japan. 2000. Winner of Special Documentary Film Award, 2001, Internationales Dokumentar film festival, Munchen
   
   A documentary based on confessions of 14 veterans of the Japanese Imperial Army testifying to their brutal participation in Japan's 15- year war against China. From 1931 to Japan's surrender in 1945, Japan launched an aggressive war in China named "The Three-Alls: Kill all, Burn all, Loot all." Massacres of civilians and POWs, destruction of villages, medical experimentation, torture, and rape became everyday acts so much so that Chinese in the ‘30s and ‘40s referred to these invaders as "Riben Guizi", a term literally translated as Japanese Devils. Director Matsui Minoru presents a powerful historical record of these soldiers' individual crimes, helping to break Japan's long silence about its wartime atrocities in China.

   An abridged version of 58 minutes is also available. For more information of the documentary, visit http://www.asiasource.org/news/special_reports/japanesedevils.cfm

3. Silence Broken (57 min)
   Producer: Dai Sil Kim-Gibson
   
   A documentary about Korean women forced into sexual slavery by the Japanese Imperial Army during the Asia-Pacific War. Euphemistically called “comfort women”, these forgotten victims of war were “drafted” into service from countries occupied by Japan during the war. Individual testimonies in the film, combined with rare archival footage and dramatized images, are contravened by steadfast denials of Japanese soldiers, recruiters, and contemporary scholars, creating a story which embodies the spirit and fortitude of not only Korean but all comfort women.

4. Breaking the History of Silence - The Women's International War Crimes Tribunal for the Trial of Japanese Military Sexual Slavery (68 minutes)
   Produced by Video Juku, Japan, 2000
   
   A documentary, with narration in English, of The Women's International War Crimes Tribunal for the Trial of Japanese Military Sexual Slavery held in Tokyo in December 2000. Produced by Video Juku, a women's group that makes documentaries to create a society free of violence and discrimination against women, the film shows survivors, prosecutors (including the joint North and South Korean team), expert witnesses, and Japanese veterans giving testimony and the extraordinary moment when Emperor Hirohito was pronounced guilty in preliminary findings.

5. Hague Final Judgement- The Women's International War Crimes Tribunal for the Trial of Japanese Military Sexual Slavery (33 minutes)
   Produced by Video Juku, Japan, 2001
   
   A documentary on the handing down in the Hague, The Netherlands, on December 4, 2001, of the final judgment for the Women's International War Crimes Tribunal that was held in Tokyo on December, 2000. The State of Japan was found to be responsible for crimes against women committed during the Asia-Pacific War. Ten wartime government and military officials, including Emperor Hirohito, were also found guilty.

6. History Undercover: The Rape of Nanking (50 min Viewer discretion advised due to the graphic nature of some footage)
   Produced by Lou Reda Productions, 2001
   
   On December 13, 1937, the Japanese Imperial troops invaded and occupied Nanking, then the capital of China, and began a reign of terror the Western press dubbed The Rape of Nanking. German businessman John Rabe was so horrified by what he saw that he worked with others to save 250,000 people in Nanking. This production relies on Rabe’s diaries, along with interviews of soldiers, victims and their descendants along with gruesome photos to help separate fact from fiction.

7. History Undercover: Unit 731: Nightmare in Manchuria (50 min)
   Produced by Lou Reda Productions, 2001
   
   Narrated by Arthur Kent, this video details the top secret research facility called Unit 731, where Japanese doctor Shiro Ishii and his staff conducted weapons research that claimed the lives of untold thousands of Chinese civilians. Unlike his equals in the Nazi death camps, Ishii’s was never punished for the atrocities committed at Unit 731 for documents recording the grim findings were secretly sold to the United States in exchange for amnesty. The video details these crimes against humanity, featuring interviews with several surviving American war prisoners who claim they were victimized by Japanese experiments and revealing secret documents that expose the complicity of the U.S. and Japan in keeping this sorry chapter of history in the dark for so long.

8. Unit 731: Japan's Biological Force (45 min)
   Produced by BBC, 2002.
   Reporter: Anita McNaught; Producer: Giselle Portenier
   
   Anita McNaught reports on Unit 731, a top secret division of the Japanese Imperial Army devoted to developing biological weapons of mass destruction that would win the Asia-Pacific for Japan. With a huge budget, specially authorised by the Emperor, Unit 731 used thousands of Chinese civilians and Chinese, Korean and Russian POWs as human laboratory rats, to research, breed and refine biological weapons. Human subjects were treated as sub-human, and live vivisections were common. The documentary provides history students with a first hand account of experiences at Unit 731 as well as the search for justice for relatives/descendants of victims.