Film sheds light on poison gas factory

Japan’s wartime chemical weapons killed untold thousands in China

TOKYO — A new documentary film about Okunoshima, an island where Japan manufactured poison gas for its 1937-45 war of aggression against China, is attracting a great deal of attention.

Recently televised by the Tokyo Broadcasting System, the documentary comes on the heels of another one about Japan’s infamous Unit 731, released earlier by public broadcaster NHK.

Both films reveal the irrefutable historical truth about Japan’s war crimes and have prompted heated discussions among Japanese society.

Okunoshima is a small island located in the Seto Inland Sea of Japan in Hiroshima prefecture. The island served as a poison gas factory for much of the chemical warfare carried out by the Imperial Japanese Army in China from 1937-45.

The documentary features Haruka Ayase, a 32-year-old pop idol in Japan, visiting Okunoshima island and interviewing 91-year-old Yasuma Fujimoto and others about the island’s past.

Fujimoto was involved in the manufacturing of poison gas at a plant on the island and it was used, among other heinous acts, by the Japanese invaders in China.

“This island now appears green, but it used to look yellow,” said Fujimoto, adding that trees could not grow there due to the acid in the gas.

Back then, 6,700 people were working on the island and manufacturing poison gas around the clock. Fujimoto

I made poison gas which killed Chinese people. This is a fact that can never be denied or distorted.” Yasuma Fujimoto, resident of Okunoshima Island

can still recall the chemical equation for the formula.

“The poison gas was manufactured to secure Japan a victory in its invasive war against China,” said Fujimoto.

“I will never forget this chemical equation. I went to learn these things to earn a living, but I ended up making poison gas to kill the Chinese people. I’m a criminal.”

Civilians targeted

Chinese civilians were targeted by the chemical weapons deployed by the invading Japanese army.

One such example was a 1943 gas attack at an underpass in Beituan village, Hebei province, that left about 1,000 Chinese villagers dead.

Eager to cover up the atrocities, Japan’s postwar government destroyed evidence, along with the manufacturing facilities on Okunoshima island.

The island has become a tourist spot with more than 700 wild rabbits living there, and is therefore also called Rabbit Island.

Unfortunately, the crimes of the past seem to only exist in the memory of a handful of witnesses who are still alive, such as Fujimoto.

“I made poison gas which killed Chinese people. This is a fact that can never be denied or distorted,” said Fujimoto.

Like the earlier documentary about the Imperial Japanese Army’s Harbin-based Unit 731, which conducted lethal chemical and biological experiments on thousands of Chinese civilians, the TBS documentary has triggered heated discussions in Japanese society.

Many viewers said they were shocked and felt that this part of history should never be forgotten.

Japanese writer Masahiro Yamazaki said in a post online that the documentaries choose to face Japan’s dark history squarely in order for the nation to have a bright new future, but there are still some people who are plagued by militarist ideals and turn a blind eye to the truth.

Duan Yuezhong, a Chinese citizen in Japan, said the documentaries appeal to the conscience of Japanese citizens and prompt them to reflect on wartime history.

Ayase, a famous Japanese actress, appears at the end of the documentary to say that when she was listening to Fujimoto, she once again felt the terror of war and the preciousness of peace.

“I hope more people can hear the story of Mr Fujimoto,” she said.