The confessions of Japanese war criminal Shuichi Kikuchi

According to the written confession of Shuichi Kikuchi in December 1954, he was born in Miyagi Prefecture, Japan in 1915. He was dispatched to the "Manchukuo" in 1937. After Japan's surrender, he then took refuge in the troops of Yan Xishan, a military officer of the Kuomintang, in August 1945 and served as major general and commander of Artillery Regiment of the Instruction Corps of Taiyuan Pacification Government Office. He was arrested in Shanxi on 24 April 1949.

Major offences:

File photo of Shuichi Kikuchi

Late September1938: while searching around Yaoshan City, Yaoshan County, Hebei Province, "I encountered a woman aged around 25 and a 4-year-old girl at the east gate. I said that those who still stayed inside the town must be enemy relatives and ordered my subordinates to shoot dead the woman with light machine guns and rifles. Later the girl, crying and dragging the mother's body, was also shot dead by rifle"

Early October 1938: in Gaoyi County, Hebei Province, "ordered the new recruits to stab the captives to boost their courage", "First, three soldiers were ordered to charge one by one from 30 meters away at a captive tied to a pole. Then, another two soldiers were told to stab two other captives near a pit and make them fall into the pit";

More: Unspeakable cruelty of wartime Japan

Late March 1939: in Ekou Township, Daixian County, Shanxi Province, beat two women who refused to lend their cooking utensils, "and stabbed to death a 30-year-old woman inside the house as well as her two children. Later, we killed another 3 residents in their houses";

Mid-December 1939: "I raped a Chinese woman in her house in Taiyuan City";

LateMarch 1940: in Shanxi Province, "on the riverside 70 meters to the northeast of Jiazhuang, Guoxian County, five soldiers of our Company assaulted with bayonet and then shot dead three Eighth Route Army captives";

Early April 1940: "in mopping up the mountainous area to the east of Shuiquanliang, we stabbed or shot to death over 20 captured residents" in Shenchi County, Shanxi Province;

Mid-May 1940: "with the power of a unit commander, I raped a Chinese female who was around 16";

Mid-July 1940: "under the command of the battalion chief, I sent an 18-year-old wounded Eighth Route Army soldier to the military police for inquisition, and later the military police killed him by shooting on his head with a handgun";

Early September 1940: "raped a woman aged around 20 in Wuzhai City, Wuzhai County and raped her twice later";

Early September 1941: "in the Military Police Station in Pianguan City, the Agent Squad brought three women to pour liquor at the banquet. At 23:00 in the Military Police Station, I raped a woman aged around 22 and I allowed two of my subordinate officers to rape two other women";

Early September 1941: Surgeon Lieutenant attached to the Company Shinji Kawagen requested a vivisection on one of the captives. "He is given the permission … First, he cut the throat apart to stop the captive from making a sound. After the appendectomy, he shot at the gut of that captive with a handgun. He then sutured the gut and laid the captive in the dispensary to see the result. At around 14:00 on third day, he conducted a joint separation surgery on that captive, who was later carried out to the yard of the Company camp. Shinji Kawagen shot the captive on the head when he was still alive and the dead body was buried on the spot";

Mid-September: "conducted vivisection in our blockhouse in Pianguan City, cut the gut before suturing it up, checking the result on the afternoon of the next day, at 17:00, carried the man to the city wall to the southeast of the Company camp in Pianguan City, Surgeon Kawagen killed him by shooting on the head";

Early February 1942: "in the fields to the southeast of Sanchabao, Tadasaku Kanai, Sergeant Major of the 3rd Company, stabbed to death the 6 residents captured by the Battalion";

Mid-February: in Bawangshan, Kelan County, "burned down at least 200 civilian houses";

Early May: "asked the interpreter to bring a 19-year-old Chinese girl, who came to Shenchi from Datong City, to the interpreter's home in Shenchi, where I raped her and did it three more times later";

Mid-April 1943: "I enslaved 250 residents and 50 donkeys in Mengjiawa, Pingshan County for 15 days. … Claiming two of them were slackers, I commanded the Squad Commander to beat them up and shot them dead in a place to the northeast of Mengjiawa";

Late June: "after assaulting Shijia Village, Shenchi County, … captured 4 soldiers of the Eighth Route Army and 2 residents… and 3 captives from the Eighth Route Army were then stabbed to death with bayonets";

Early July: to test the courage of new recruits and boost the morale, two captives of unclear background were stabbed to death by the new recruits;

From late July 1938 to 3 September 1945: crimes summary: killing 1,122 people in 292 cases, including 845 killed in normal times and 277 killed in battles; "methods of killing: …slashing to death 10 people in 7 cases, beating to death 3 people in 2 cases, vivisection of 4 people in 4 cases, … smashing to death 5 people in 3 cases, torturing to death 1 people in 1 case, burying live 2 people in 1 case, shooting and stabbing to death after using poison gas 1 people in 1 case, using bacteria to kill 33 people in 2 cases"; "victim type: 727 residents in 202 cases", raping 60 people and personally raping 39 people.