Judgment at Tokyo: The Japanese War Crimes Trials [Hardcover]

Tim Maga (Author)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 0813121779 | ISBN-13: 978-0813121772 | Publication Date: January 11, 2001 | Edition: 1St Edition

“They are plain, ordinary murderers,” cried Chief Prosecutor Joseph B. Keenan, and the court at the Tokyo War Crimes Trials believed him. As a result, Japanese officers and soldiers who conducted beheading demonstrations, engaged in unethical medical experiments, or even practiced cannibalism on POWs, were found guilty of the more prosecutable charge of murder. In the years since the Japanese war crimes trials concluded, the proceedings have been colored by charges of racism, vengeance, and guilt.

Tim Maga contends that despite these charges, the trials encompassed some of the most fascinating criminal cases of the twentieth century. Judgment at Tokyo is a bold reassessment of the trials, in which defendants ranged from lowly Japanese Imperial Army privates to former prime ministers. Maga shows that these were cases in which good law was practiced and that they changed the ways war crimes trials are approached today.

In contrast to Nuremberg, the efforts in Tokyo, Guam, and other locations throughout the Pacific received little attention by the Western press. Once the Cold War began and America needed Pacific allies, the atrocities committed by Japanese soldiers throughout the 1930s and early 1940s were rarely mentioned. The trials were dismissed as phony justice and “Japan Bashing.”

Since the defendants did not represent a government for which genocide was a policy pursuit, their cases were more difficult to prosecute than those of Nazi war criminals. Keenan and his compatriots adopted criminal court tactics and established precedents in the conduct of war crimes trials that still stand today. Maga reviews the context for the trials, recounts the proceedings, and concludes that they were, in fact, decent examples of American justice and fair play.

Editorial Reviews

From Booklist

Between 1946 and 1948, a large segment of Japan's wartime military and civilian leadership was tried for war crimes. The trials never received the publicity of the Nuremberg trials. Although the Nuremberg trials have generally been immune from reproach by historians, the Tokyo trials have frequently been criticized as "racist," "hypocritical," or an example of "victor's justice." The fact that Emperor Hirohito was granted de facto immunity enhanced the impression of unfairness. Maga, a professor of American heritage at Bradley University, has previously written extensively on U.S.-Japanese relations. He convincingly asserts that the Tokyo trials must be viewed separately from Nuremberg, since there were no accusations at Tokyo of a calculated plot of genocide. Given the limitations imposed by that fact, Maga believes that the trials were warranted and generally conducted fairly. Furthermore, the Tokyo trials set important precedents in establishing what factors constitute war crimes and how they can be effectively prosecuted. This is a provocative and timely work. Jay Freeman
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

Review

"A useful reminder of how little we still know of the Tokyo trials and how much we should." -- Journal of American History

"Illuminates the trials for what they were-cumbersome." -- Asahi Shimbun

"The author sees the Tokyo trials as effective tools of justice and worries that the trials were downplayed." -- WTBF

“Covers the gulf between the literature associated with the post-WWII trials of Nazi war criminals and their Japanese counterparts.” -- American Society of International Law Newsletter

“He has done us all a service, reopening the question of what really happened in those terrible years, and why.” -- Japan Quarterly

“The book’s length and style serve as a general introduction to this aspect of the war with Japan.” -- Journal of Military History

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 240 pages
• Publisher: University Press of Kentucky; 1St Edition edition (January 11, 2001)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0813121779
• ISBN-13: 978-0813121772
• Product Dimensions: 9.3 x 5.8 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 11.2 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 3.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,270,511 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

27 of 35 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Passing This Judgment, January 23, 2002

By 

hist (san francisco, ca) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Judgment at Tokyo: The Japanese War Crimes Trials (Hardcover)

Tim Maga utterly fails to develop a coherant argument for his thesis (that, although critics abound, the Tokyo Trials were carried forth in the spirit of justice and fairness). Since I started the book as a skeptic of his argument, I was interested in what primary materials would be cited as well as how thorough of a job Maga would do.

The book follows no organization and the text itself is filled with tangental tid-bits of irrellevant information that serves no purpose except just to break any flow that a chapter might had. He focuses too heavily on the transcripts of the courtroom itself, instead of looking at how the trials proceeded according to a script written from outside sources. He concludes every chapter by returning to his thesis, while the reader is left wondering how such a claim can be made after what they have just read.

In all fairness, the task that Maga set out to do (to answer the critics of the trial) is a massive one. There are extremely well written histories of the Trial that take in-depth looks into how SCAP, MacArthur, even the Imperial House meddled in the affairs of the trial.....or reviewing the dissenting arguments of a few of the judges who saw the Trial first hand. These are all glossed over in a few paragraphs so that Maga can return to repeating his thesis that the allies and prosecutors were inspired only by justice/fairness.

To read a very small amount of material on the Trial, I suggest reading Dower's Embracing Defeat. Although not without folley of its own, his chapters on the trial give a better and in-depth glimpse into the Tokyo Trial.

15 of 19 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Japanese War Crimes trials placed in historical context, February 18, 2001

By 

"[e-mail]" - See all my reviews

This review is from: Judgment at Tokyo: The Japanese War Crimes Trials (Hardcover)

Tim Maga has done it again. The nation's premier scholar of US-East Asian relations has joined John Dower and Herbert Bix in considering postwar Japan. This book rises immediately to the top rank of studies of its specific subject and of the post-World War II period in general. The book is admittedly not an encylopedic review of the trials, although those who are searching for descriptions of the grotesque actions of Japanese war criminals will not be disappointed here. Rather the book's strength is in its ability to show how the trials played a crucial role in other important developments of the time. Dr. Maga's approach thus sheds new light on MacArthur's occupation government and its relationship with the State Department, the bifurcated view of war criminals in Japan itself as both villains and heros, and the developing Cold War in general and the Korean War in particular. The final chapter adds provocative insights into the legacy of the Japanese war crimes trials in light of the ongoing debate of how to deal with war crimes in the present day. Dr. Maga's research is impeccable and includes several heretofore unused sources. Out of this he has fashioned a book which must be considered by anyone plowing this field in the future. Expect to see this book receiving major awards later this year.

5 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent study of largely misunderstood trial, January 27, 2003

By 

Penelope A. Blake (Roscoe, IL USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Judgment at Tokyo: The Japanese War Crimes Trials (Hardcover)

Maga does an excellent job of weeding through post-war propaganda and revisionist history to reveal a trial which was much more fair and effective than most scholars have argued. Maga carefully documents the Japanese attempts to turn world opinion against the trials and, through various machinations, detract from the criminal acts of those on trial. He also reveals the degree to which American politics, now focused on the Soviet threat and anxious to shore up Japanese support against Communism,, influenced the trial and brought about lenient sentences for war criminals, and in some cases (Emperor Hirohito, especially), no trial or punishment at all. An excellent read!