New book on Tokyo Trials launched at BEA 2015

NEW YORK - A China-published new book on the Tokyo Trials of Japanese war criminals in World War II made its world debut here Thursday at the largest annual book fair in the United States.

The 50-volume book in Japanese, titled "Collection of Court Exhibits of the International Military Tribunal for the Far East", displays court-accepted evidence submitted by both the prosecution and defense at the tribunal convened at Tokyo, Japan, also known as the Tokyo Trials.

The publication of the book, a full record and review of war crimes committed by Japanese militarists in China and other countries in East Asia during World War II, is of historical value and meant to highlight the importance to cherish and maintain world peace and order, according to the Chinese editors' foreword.

The Tokyo Trials were held from May 1946 to November 1948 in order to punish Japanese war criminals and restore international order in accordance with the Potsdam Declaration.

"The tribunal heard the testimony from 419 witnesses and admitted 4,336 exhibits," said Xiang Longwan, honorary director of the Tokyo Trials research center at Shanghai Jiao Tong University.

The exhibits included depositions, documents, diaries, letters and reports, said the scholar, whose father Xiang Zhejun was among the Tokyo Trials prosecutors.

Aggregating and organizing all of them into a book took labor.

"I actually got my first glimpse of this publication when I was wondering through the exhibit halls yesterday. My eye always goes to big publications, because I know just what it takes to bring out just a work," said Karen Christensen, CEO of the Berkshire Publishing Group, a U.S. partner of Shanghai Jiao Tong University Press.

This big publication is a co-work between Shanghai Jiao Tong University Press and the publishing house of the National Library of China.

Its world premiere at the BookExpo America (BEA) 2015 represented joint efforts by academic and publishing circles of both China and the United States to safeguard postwar order, said Wu Shangzhi, deputy director of the State Administration of Press, Publication, Radio, Film and Television, of China.

"China and the Unites States fought together in World War II, and both participated in the Tokyo Trials," the Chinese official added.

BEA 2015 is scheduled to run at the Javits Convention Center in the New York City from Wednesday to Friday.

China, an emerging power in the international publishing industry, takes part as the Guest of Honor for BEA 2015's Global Market Forum program, which features three days of education sessions, exhibitions and off-site cultural events.