Unit 731: Deadly science Ep. 5: Intergenerational Memory

In this interview, Katsutoshi Takegami (b. 1948, Komagane City, Nagano Prefecture) shares his decade-long journey to uncover his father’s role as a sanitation / “trade and supply” soldier attached to Unit 731’s sister organization, the Sakai 1644 Unit in China. Drawing on rare documents and an original wartime photo album of more than 2,000 images, Takegami retraces his father’s path across Manchuria and occupied China—from water purification work on the front lines to postwar service at military hospitals such as the 158th and 178th Corps Hospitals.

He describes how, while cleaning out an old family warehouse, he discovered a wooden box labeled “Nara Army Hospital” filled with forgotten military records and photographs. That discovery led him to archivists in Nara, historians, and eventually to the publication of a photo book documenting the 4th Trade and Supply Department / Nakashina Trade and Supply Department (Sakai 1644 Unit)—one of the very few visual records of this shadowy unit connected to Japan’s biological warfare program.

Along the way, Takegami reflects on:

The difficulty of tracing his father’s exact duties and the limits of what he can ethically “assume” about human experimentation

The near-total silence in Japan around these units, compared with the strong victim memory he encountered at Harbin’s Unit 731 museum and the Nanjing Massacre Memorial Hall

His efforts to donate copies of documents and photos to institutions in Japan and China, and his concerns about what will happen to these materials after his generation is gone

His hope that other families will open their closets, attics, and photo albums and share what they find

This video is part of our ongoing work to document intergenerational memory, war responsibility, and the hidden infrastructure of Japanese military medical and sanitation units in the Asia–Pacific War.

🎥 About the Series:
Deadly Science exposes the dark intersections of wartime science and human cruelty — from secret laboratories to the victims who refused to be forgotten.

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Видео Unit 731: Deadly science Ep. 5: Intergenerational Memory канала Pacific Front Untold