Confessions of Japanese war criminals

Editor's note: To offer a clearer picture of history, the State Archives Administration released a large number of files on 45 Japanese war criminals who were tried and convicted in China after World War II. The special military tribunal of the Supreme People's Court held public trials, sentencing the criminals to eight-to-20 years prison term. China Daily is publishing abstracts of the criminals' confessions:

Shigeta Kage

Shigeta Kage was born in Fukuoka prefecture, Japan, in 1899.

During the Japanese War of Aggression against China, he served as chief instructor of the Liuhe Police Administration in the "Manchukuo" area of Northeast China (Manchuria), and as chief of the Police Division of the Police Bureau in Jinzhou city.

His major offenses include:

May 1937: He sent five or six anti-Japanese armed guerrilla soldiers and supporters to the Japanese army to be executed in Liuhe county. "I killed one of them with my Japanese sword," he confessed.

From July 1936: He forced 6,500 households to move out to create depopulated zones. Later, he killed eight Chinese civilians in Liuhe county after accusing them of "entering the depopulated zone".

Shozo Tsukutani

Shozo Tsukutani was born in Tottori prefecture, Japan, in 1894.

During the Japanese War of Aggression against China, he served as chief of the Secret Service Division at the Shenyang Police Department and as chief of a police division in Chengde, in the Rehe province of "Manchukuo".

His major offenses include:

April 1936: He arrested 78 people and "interrogated them with most brutal acts such as bloating water into their body, beating, clamping their fingers together with iron bars in between, etc.".

Four of the 11 Party members who were with them were sentenced to death.

After June 1939: He ordered his team to destroy 500 households, displacing 500 residents, and to establish 10 new tribal groups.

(China Daily 08/07/2014 page5)