A look at Sugamo Prison

The Meiji period of Japan (1867-1912) saw a cultural and economic revolution as Japan changed from a post-feudal and isolated country to an Eastern world power. Clothing, building materials, military equipment, armaments, consumer goods and many other items were not only purchased from the west, but manufactured on the islands as the Japanese eagerly sought to replicate the products and technology produced in the other countries. In 1895, during the middle of this new-age revolution, a state-of-the-art prison was built on the edge of Tokyo, influenced heavily by European designs. The building featured a large administration center with six long wings of holding cells; five two story and one single story in height. Accompanying this were service areas, exercise yards, an execution building, a laundry and a smaller building for women. Through the years, this facility would be used to incarcerate political prisoners, communists, and many others deemed dangerous by the imperial Japanese military. During WW2, unpatriotic writers, publishers, foreign spies and allied servicemen were kept in this brutal environment, often treated inhumanely by their vengeful captors who tortured and murdered many at will. When the hostilities finally ceased in September, 1945, after two atomic bombs were used to stop the continued carnage and force the Japanese government to surrender, an occupation force of over one million allied soldiers soon followed on the heels of victory. With only light damage incurred by the bombs that had blanketed Tokyo, Sugamo prison remained mostly intact for use by the newly arrived allied governing military forces.

Though not as well-known today as the Nuremberg court trials involving the high-ranking Nazis in Germany, the tribunals of Japanese war criminals found many of those accused guilty of horrific crimes against allied soldiers and thousands of innocent civilians. Despite the barbarity of these actions, some were met with approval by the Japanese people. An example of this was the “hundred man killing contest” which took place between two Japanese officers, Toshiaki Mukai and Tsuyoshi Noda, during the 1937 invasion of China. The two soldiers competed to see which could kill the most Chinese by beheading them with their samurai swords. Accounts of these slaughters were recorded for the public in two Japanese newspapers, which would later lead to the officers’ eventual arrests, incarceration at Sugamo prison and executions in 1948. As the war ceased in each area of the Asian theatre, the tedious task of “cat & mouse” began in rounding up those who had killed and tortured the innocent, and mete out the well-earned punishment. Higher ranking Japanese military, common field soldiers and civil personnel who had promoted murder, maiming, ill treatment of prisoners, plundering property, rape, torture, human experimentation and other horrifying acts were separated from the other Japanese and locked away until they could be brought to face their fates in court. The first war criminals captured by the U.S. were guarded by soldiers from the 35th AAA at Omori Prison, located on Omori Island in Tokyo Bay. When this facility became too overcrowded, prisoners were transferred to XI Corp Stockade 1, the newly renovated Sugamo Prison. Once taken over by the allies, major improvements in structural repairs, utilities and building maintenance had been undertaken to make the prison livable and function more properly. In addition, the prison’s area was greatly expanded when twelve supplementary acres surrounding the original six-acre compound were secured with ten-foot-high steel barbed wire fencing. The fence was erected to not only secure the prisoners inside, but for keeping desperate Japanese civilians from sneaking on to the base to steal needed food or coal. Quonset huts, a mess hall, leisure areas (including the first bowling alley in Japan), a snack bar, sports fields, an armory and motor pool were built on the grounds to accommodate the U.S. servicemen stationed there. A chapel was built in the administration building to serve both the allied soldiers and (separately) the Japanese prisoners. Despite the crimes that they had committed, attempts were made to treat the accused war criminals with respect and dignity in order to show them and the other Japanese that the people from a democratic country could act more civilly and humanely then the former Japanese rulers and military had.

Two high profile trials were carried out on the Japanese mainland by the allied military: the Yokohama War Crimes Trials of lower ranking war criminals conducted by the Military commission of the U.S. 8th Army at Yokohama, while the highest leaders of Imperial Japan were tried at the Tokyo War Crimes Court of law presided over by the International Military Tribunal for the Far East (IMTFE). The IMTFE was made up of representatives from the United States, Australia, Canada, China, France, India, Netherlands, New Zealand, Philippines, Soviet Union, and the United Kingdom. Three designations of war crimes, “A”, “B” and “C” were created to signify the brutality and scope of the crimes committed. “A” was reserved for Japan’s leadership, those who had planned and then ordered the Japanese military to carry out some of the most ruthless campaigns of unprovoked attack and conquest. Classes “B” and “C” were reserved for smaller, but still very barbaric war crimes as those committed by ordinary officers and soldiers in the field against civilians and allied soldiers.

The Yokohama trials proved the more prolific of the two court proceedings with 996 convicts tried, 854 convicted and 124 sentenced to death. All those convicted served their time or were scheduled to be executed at Sugamo prison. Of the 124 death sentences, only 51 were carried out, with all remaining prisoners paroled by 1958.

The Tokyo trial, though involving fewer defendants, gained more notoriety due to the ill-famed prisoners reported with a broader news coverage. Iva Toguri D’Aquino (Tokyo Rose), General Hideki Tojo (prime minister), and General Seishiro Itagaki, (war minister) were well known to the allied public during the war and had their trials closely followed. These inmates were housed at the Sugamo prison along with others who were either awaiting trial, incarcerated to serve out their terms, or sentenced to be executed. They were only allowed one hour a day outside of their cells, in addition to being transported out of the compound to appear in court. Later, the time out of their cells was increased when vegetable gardens were grown by the prisoners to supplement their own food rations. During the occupation period, a total of 2,000 war criminals would be housed in the strict facility, which could accommodate 500 inmates at one time.

In 1946, personnel under the 8th US army were assigned to guard those at the Sugamo prison, coming in contact with the inmates on a daily basis. They also conducted the administration and operations of the prison and adjacent facilities until 1952. Because of the 18-acre size of the complex, the round-the-clock watches required (to prevent suicides) and intense security needed for the high-profile prisoners contained there, approximately 500 U.S. soldiers were stationed in Sugamo at any one time. Over the seven years of operation, about 2,500 would find duty overseeing the Sugamo prison and its notorious occupants. Including those tried in the Tokyo and Yokohama courts, a total of more than 6,000 Japanese were arrested and put on trial in over 50 locations across the eastern theatre, by countries such as Australia, China, France, the Philippines, the Indies, Russia, the United Kingdom and the United States. These varied courts would continue in operation until the final proceedings by Australia ended in 1951. As the U.S. military presence began to wind down, American personnel were slowly withdrawn from duty and replaced by Japanese prison guards, trusted to monitor those inmates remaining at Sugamo.

At the end of the allied occupation of Japan in 1952, total control of the Sugamo prison was handed over to the Japanese government. They would operate the prison until 1962, which would then stand vacant until being demolished in 1971, erasing one reminder of Japan’s wartime criminal atrocities.

Where the prison once stood, today, towers “Sunshine City” (built in 1978), the tallest skyscraper in Japan. In memory of the area’s malevolent past, a small stone monument stands on the property. Inscribed on the marker in Japanese is “Pray for Eternal Peace.”