Materials in the U.S. National Archives and Records Administration Related to the Kyushu University Vivisection Case, and their Significance

Abstract

Aim: I investigated materials related to this case that were held in the U.S., and I explored reconsidering the case as a bioethical issue. Methods: For a 2012 Scientific Research Project (Theme: Research on Historical Documents at Kyushu University School of Medicine (Theme No.23650563) ), I conducted an overseas investigation of the Kyushu University Vivisection Case in December 2014 after completing a preliminary study in Japan. Results: On 25 December 2014, in the abovementioned U.S archives, I discovered unpublished materials written by Fukujiro Ishiyama,“Professor” in the First Department of Surgery of Kyushu Imperial University. These materials have since been published in a textbook and utilized for bioethics education. Conclusion: The Great Fukuoka Air Raid occurred in 1945, at the end of the Pacific War. Eight POWs who had been on board a U.S. Army B-29 bomber were subjected to “experimental surgeries” under the Japanese Western District Army at the Department of Anatomy of the Kyushu University School of Medicine. This resulted in the deaths of all the POWs in the so-called “Kyushu University Vivisection Case.” For a long time, the university has regarded this case as negative history and as taboo. The incident seemed to have been planned by Dr. H. Komori, an army physician, who held the key to the case and is said to have committed “a horrible and inhumane act.” The discovery of the new materials, however, has made the case a bioethics issue that involves the Code of Conduct for Medical Professionals. Significantly, the discovery has presented an opportunity for the issue to be reconsidered from an interdisciplinary perspective.