Shozo Tominaga Explained

^[1] was a Japanese war criminal turned peace activist.

Tominaga served in Manchuria during the Second Sino-Japanese War. In that time, he participated in many war crimes.^[2] He served with the 39th Division, based in Hiroshima, and from July 1941 onward served in Central China.^[3] Tominaga was captured during the Soviet invasion of Manchuria in 1945. As with many other Japanese prisoners of war in the Soviet Union, he was interred in a harsh POW camp in Siberia. In 1950, he was handed over to People's Republic of China.^[4]

Tominaga was released in 1957 and returned to Japan.^[5] That same year, he co-founded a peace activist group^[1]

In 2001, shortly prior to his death, he participated in the Japanese documentary film Japanese Devils (Riben guizi).^[6]

Sources

• Book: Cook, Haruko Taya . Japan at War: An Oral History . Theodore F. Cook . 1992 . New Press . 1-56584-039-9 . registration .
• Book: Reilly, Kevin Taya. Racism: A Global Reader . Stephen Kaufman . Angela Bodino . 2003 . M.E. Sharpe . 0-7656-1059-0 .

External links

• "Recalling Japanese POWs' Life in Fushun" (China Daily August 25, 2005)

Notes and References

1. http://search.japantimes.co.jp/cgi-bin/nn20020115b8.html Obituary: Shozo Tominaga
2. Reily et al., 305
3. http://history.hanover.edu/courses/excerpts/111joff.html Article about Tominaga
4. Cook, 463
5. Cook 40 says he left Japan in June 1941. Cook 468 says he arrived home 16 years later.
6. https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0286923/fullcredits Data at IMDB