Everything Everywhere Daily: History, Science, Geography & More - The Tokyo Trials

Episode Date: January 17, 2026

Following the conclusion of World War II, decisions needed to be made about how to handle the defeated Axis Powers. Due to the vast scale of atrocities committed, it was not feasible to punish everyone involved. Instead, the Allied victors chose to put key members of the leadership on trial. For aggressors in the Eastern Theater, it was decided that the Tokyo Trials would be held to try political and military heads for war crimes. Learn about how the Tokyo Trials, why they were held, the controversies surrounding them, and why they were considered to be necessary on this episode of Everything Everywhere Daily. Sponsors Quince Go to quince.com/daily for 365-day returns, plus free shipping on your order! Mint Mobile Get your 3-month Unlimited wireless plan for just 15 bucks a month at mintmobile.com/eed Subscribe to the podcast!  https://everything-everywhere.com/everything-everywhere-daily-podcast/ -------------------------------- Executive Producer: Charles Daniel Associate Producers: Austin Oetken & Cameron Kieffer   Become a supporter on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/everythingeverywhere Discord Server: https://discord.gg/UkRUJFh Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/everythingeverywhere/ Facebook Group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/everythingeverywheredaily Twitter: https://twitter.com/everywheretrip Website: https://everything-everywhere.com/  Disce aliquid novi cotidie Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Following the conclusion of World War II, decisions needed to be made about how to handle the defeated Axis powers. Due to the vast scale of the atrocities committed, it wasn't feasible to punish everyone. Instead, the Allies chose to put key members of the leadership on trial. In the Eastern Theater, it was decided that trials in Tokyo, Japan would be held to determine the fate of those in high-ranking political and military positions for war crimes. Learn more about the Tokyo trials. Why they were held, the controversy surrounding them, and why they were considered necessary on this episode of Everything Everywhere Daily. Fear is the virus is trending on TikTok.

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The Second World War was far and away the most horrific war in terms of loss of life in human history. Tens of millions of people died, and millions more were subject to horrible conditions, injury and illness. The most well-known atrocities occurred in the European theater of the war, but there were many equally horrific events that took place in the Pacific Theater. The Empire of Japan committed numerous war crimes, which at the completion of the war, demanded some sort of justice on the part of the victors. While it's not possible to list all of these war crimes committed by the Japanese, there were several major ones that are worth mentioning.

The rape of Nanking began on December 13, 1937, and lasted for six weeks. The Imperial Japanese Army marched into the Chinese city of Nanjing and murdered hundreds of thousands of Chinese civilians and soldiers, as well as raping tens of thousands of young girls and women. At the time Nanjing was the capital of nationalist China, though officials had already abandoned the city before the attack. Despite this, when the Japanese arrived, they attacked with pure brutality. Entire families were murdered, including infants and the elderly. Bodies lined the streets for literally months after the attack, and one-third of Nanjing's buildings were looted or burnt

to the ground. According to eyewitnesses, roughly 20 to 80,000 women and young girls were tortured and raped. And a massive portion of these women were mutilated or killed after being assaulted. Another war crime attributed to the Japanese during World War II is the attack on Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941. The attack is notable because it was launched without a prior declaration of war against a neutral country, which is the reason it's been regarded as a war crime. The Japanese had hoped that by attacking Pearl Harbor, they could cripple the American Pacific Fleet, allowing them to conquer more territory without any American interference. They managed to cripple or destroy 20 different ships and roughly 3,000 planes, and more crucially,

2,000 Americans lost their lives. A final example of the war crimes committed by the Japanese was the Baton Death March, which I covered in a previous episode. It took place on the Baton Peninsula just west of Manila and saw roughly 78,000 prisoners of war, 66,000 Filipinos and about 10,000 Americans marched 66 miles or 106 kilometers across the island of Luzon. The march started on April 9, 1942, after U.S. and Filipino soldiers were forced to surrender after months of fighting. The Japanese were unprepared for the number of prisoners they now had,

and this led to the first of the atrocities to occur, when hundreds of Filipino officers were executed. Afterward, the prisoners were forced to march. Along the way, Japanese troops beat men either to move them along or for sport. They limited the amount of food and water given to the prisoners, and anyone who broke rank on the march was shot, beheaded, or or stabbed. Once the 66-mile walk was finished, the remaining prisoners were shoved into box cars. These cars were small and built for 40 men, but were often filled with 100. Many died standing in these cars due to the extreme heat. In total, somewhere between 5,000 to 18,000 Filipinos and 5 to 650 Americans died. After the war, the Allies faced the critical task of holding

Japanese officials accountable for their war crimes, while recognizing the impossibility of prosecuting everybody. The Tokyo trials focused on the top Japanese leaders to ensure justice for many victims. It was decided that top-ranking leadership in Japan would take responsibility for promoting and accepting the systematic violence that occurred during the war. Additionally, because the scale of violence was essentially unheard of in history, new charges were created for the express purpose of these trials. There were ultimately three different charges that defendants could be given, which were modeled after the Nuremberg trials which were held against top Nazi officials. The first of these were Class A charges.

These charges were based on crimes against peace, which basically means that they waged wars of aggression against other countries. The only ones charged with Class A crimes were the top leaders of Japan who had planned and directed the war effort. Class B charges focused on war crimes. These are violations of international law known as the laws of war which govern the acceptable limits of hostility, a nation may direct towards others, and defines a level of hostility necessary to justify a declaration of war. The final charge were the Class C charges, which covered all crimes against humanity. This included systematic violence, enslavement, and deportation of civilian populations during wartime. The trials also prosecuted individuals for persecution based on race or political. opinion. This was a crucial element, primarily to allow for the prosecution of Japanese atrocities

committed against people who became subjects of the Japanese Empire, such as forcing Korean and Taiwanese women into labor or sexual slavery. The court was created by a special proclamation issued on January 19, 1946 by U.S. General Douglas MacArthur, who served as the military governor of Japan at the end of the war. This proclamation established the International Military Tribunal of the Far East, and it brought in justices from 11 different allied countries. A total of 28 individuals were tried in the Tokyo trials. Some of the top Japanese officials put on trial included Hideki Tojo, the wartime prime minister and former Army General, who was widely seen as the central figure in Japan's war leadership. Koki Heroda, a former Prime Minister and Foreign Minister.

Awani Matsui, an Army General associated with the Nanjing Massacre. And Kenji Doi Hara, a senior general and intelligence officer, deeply involved in Japan's expansion in Manchuria. Other prominent defendants included Kichiro Hiranuma, former Prime Minister and head of the Privy Council, and Hittaro Kumura, a senior commander in Southeast Asia. They were indicted on crimes, including contemplating and carrying out murder, maltreatment, and maiming of prisoners of war and civilians, enforcing inhuman labor conditions, the destruction of towns and cities beyond military necessity, and the perpetration of mass murder, rape, torture,

and other forms of cruelty against civilian populations. The trial officially began on May 3, 1946, with the prosecution's case. The prosecution presented its case over 192 days, ending on January 24th, and the trial. 1947. Evidence for the trials was presented in 15 different phases. The prosecution based its case on the doctrine of command responsibility, holding that commanding and superior officers were legally responsible for war crimes carrying it out by their subordinates. To get a defendant convicted, the prosecution needed to prove three things. One, the crimes were widespread or systematic. Two, the defendant knew their troops were committing atrocities. And three, the defendant had

authority or power to stop these crimes and did not. The court allowed any evidence deemed to have demonstrative value, meaning that the standards for omitting evidence were considered rather low. Objects like documents and diaries without signatures were allowed to be admitted, without signatures, or proof of issuance. Additionally, the defense was told to adhere to the best evidence rule, which means that the original documents were considered the best evidence. That means any copies of the documents were not admissible in court if the original documents still existed. Finally, another key decision was that the Japanese Emperor Hirohito and his family members were not put on trial, as foreign powers like the United States believed that he was a crucial

peace in maintaining order in post-war Japan. This decision to exempt the emperor was the subject of extensive internal debate amongst the Allies. The defense in the trial, comprising over a hundred attorneys, with three-quarters being Japanese and the rest American, started its case on January 27, 1947. Their presentation continued for over 225 days, concluding on September 9th. The main argument given by the defense was that the trials were never going to be free of substantial doubt, something a free and fair trial was supposed to promise. Another argument presented by the defense was that the laws they were charged with did not exist at the time the offenses were being committed.

therefore they weren't technically breaking the law. An additional argument was that individuals cannot be held responsible for crimes committed by the state, so because of this, the defendants could not be responsible for committing war crimes. The final main argument given by the defense was that the allied powers also committed war crimes, so they themselves should be examined under international law, and that Japan was only acting in self-defense. After the defense finished presenting, the court spent three, 15 months reaching its decision and writing its opinions.

There was one reading of the judge's opinions. And despite this, five of the 11 judges wrote their own dissenting opinions, disagreeing with the court's overall judgment. One of these dissents was issued by an Australian and a French judge, who argued that exempting Emperor Hirohito from the trial directly contradicted the evidence presented in court. They believed that the emperor bore responsibility for the war crimes as Japan's monarch who had launched the war.

Despite the claim that the emperor felt forced to do so, he launched the war and should be held responsible. Another dissent was issued by a Filipino judge who found the trial's punishments to be too lenient. He believed that the punishments met it out by the tribunal lacked the same gravity as the crimes committed and failed to provide any deterrence. Yet another dissent was presented by a Dutch judge

who argued that the trial was inherently biased because it was being held by the victors. He felt that the trial was, been more fair if neutral countries and Japan itself had representatives. The final dissent was delivered by an Indian judge who also found the trial to be biased. He believed that every accused person should be found not guilty. He claimed that the trials were victor's justice, meaning that the justice is unevenly distributed by the winners of the war despite committing many of the same crimes.

He considered them to be punished for simply losing. Despite this, he still believed the atrocities were committed, but rather question the legitimacy of the trial. Of the 28 defendants, only one person, Shume Okawa, was deemed mentally unfit to stand trial. Okawa had been charged with Class A crimes, having long promoted the idea of war between Japan and Western countries. Okawa was the one person accused in the Tokyo trials, who was not a military or political leader, and in many ways can be considered to be the Japanese version of Joseph Goebbels, who was the Nazi Minister of Propaganda. Additionally, two more defendants never received a verdict because they died during the course of the trial. The remaining accused were all found guilty.

Seven were sentenced to death, including Hideki Tojo, Koki Heroda, and Iwani Matsui. Of those sent to prison, three died while incarcerated, and the rest were granted parole between 1952 and 1958, after President Harry Truman issued executive order 10393, which established a clemency and parole board for war criminals. As for Emperor Hirohito, he remained the Emperor of Japan until his death in 1989 at the age of 87. Following the end of the Tokyo trials, smaller trials took place. Over 5,700 lower-ranking personnel were tried with more conventional crimes. These included medical experimentation, rape and sexual slavery, prisoner abuse, torture, and execution without trial. The post-war trials at Nuremberg and Tokyo were important because of the war trials at Nuremberg and Tokyo were important

because they established for the very first time that national leaders could be held personally accountable under international law for waging aggressive war and committing mass atrocities, rather than hiding behind state authority or military orders. Through the work of the International Military Tribunal for the Far East, the Allies affirmed principles such as individual criminal responsibility, the illegality of crimes against peace, and the rejection of just following orders as a legitimate defense. The executive producer of Everything Everywhere Daily is Charles Daniel. The associate producers are Austin Otkin and Cameron Kiefer. Research and writing for this episode was provided

by the Olivia Ash. I want to give a shout out to one of the show's listeners, Andy Swanson, who has launched a new podcast called Sports History Daily. The show has a similar format to this one, and every day you can hear a bit of sports history. Recent episodes include how Kurt Flood opened the door to baseball free agency. The Green Light Letter sent by President Roosevelt that allowed Major League Baseball to continue during World War II, and Dwight Howard's famous catch in the 1982 NFC championship game. If this sounds like your cup of tea, just check out Sports History Daily wherever you listen to this podcast. That's Sports History Daily.