16 - Violence and the Japanese Empire

Summary

The chapter examines violence and the Japanese empire from the beginning of the empire’s existence in the late nineteenth century to its collapse in 1945. The chapter analyzes not only the war crimes initiated by the Japanese empire, but also the various individual recipients and perpetrators of violence from 1937 to 1945. Both the second Sino-Japanese War (1937-45) and the Pacific War (1941-45) tore apart the lives of millions of individuals. All involved were exposed to extreme violence, and every individual had to endure such periods of violence in one way or another. Chinese and Korean forced laborers, women forced into sexual servitude, Japanese leftists killed in the prison, American and European prisoners of wars, and Japanese and Korean suicide pilots are among those who addressed in this chapter. My essay attempts to illuminate complicated aspects of the wars that Japan experienced and provide a better understanding of these wars and their effects on various individuals in Asia and the Pacific.