The Main Contents and Value assess-ment of the Unit 731 Archives Pre-served by the National Archives of Japan

Abstract

In recent years, huge progress has been made in research on Japanese bacteriological warfare. At present, major sources for scholars to make research mainly come from governmental agencies in China, civil societies in Japan as well as archives, libraries, and museums at central and provincial levels. Based on these documentations, scholars have made accordingly research and historical comments concerning Japanese bacteriological warfare, and medical crimes, hence accomplishing a great number of academic works. However, as current historical documents have been exhausted, works of concerned scholars have demonstrated convergent inclination. The excavation of documentation related to Unit 731 preserved in governmental agencies in Japan, such as the National Archives of Japan and the National Institute for Defense Studies has provided new ideas, clues, and directions for literature surveys and statistics and investigations into basic historical facts of research into Japanese bacteriological warfare.