Unfortunately, this world has known a lot of crimes being carried out during a war period. Because of our familiarity with these kind of atrocities, it’s not easy to find nowadays something that can shock us. Yet, this story will shock you as it’s not only brutal, but it also reveals the hypocrisy of the media.
During the the Japanese invasion of China on World War II, two Japanese officers named Toshiaki Mukai and Tsuyoshi Noda had a contest/race to see who could kill 100 people first by only using a sword. Disturbingly, it was covered like a sporting event in Japanese newspapers the Osaka Mainichi Shimbun and Tokyo Nichi Nichi Shimbun, with regular updates on the score.
According to a December 13, 1937 article by the journalists Asami Kazuo and Suzuki Jiro, Tsuyoshi Noda had killed 105 people while Toshiaki Mukai killed 106 people without knowing who was the first to reach the 100 milestone. Therefore, they decided to continue their contest to see who would first reach 150 kills. The headline of the newspaper was “Incredible Record in the Contest to Behead 100 People – Mukai 106 and Noda 105. Both 2nd Lieutenants Go Into Extra Innings”. (the article continues after the ad)
According to Noda himself in a speech made in his hometown when the war was over and was included in the book “The Nanjing Massacre: A Japanese Journalist Confronts Japan’s National Shame: A Japanese Journalist Confronts Japan’s National Shame” (Get it from Amazon
), the majority of the killings were not made in battle but after the Chinese were captured as prisoners.
“The Chinese soldiers were so stupid, they’d rush toward us all at once. Then we’d line them up and cut them down, from one end of the line to the other. I was praised for having killed a hundred people, but actually, almost all of them were killed in this way. The two of us did have a contest, but afterward, I was often asked whether it was a big deal, and I said it was no big deal”
After the war, the two officers were tried by the Nanjing War Crimes Tribunal and were later executed on war crime charges for their involvement.
In 2003, the families of Toshiaki Mukai and Tsuyoshi Noda sued the authors of the book for false statements, requesting US$300,000 in compensation. Two years later, in 2005, Tokyo District Court ruled that “the contest did occur, and was not an intentional fabrication by the media”.
If you like what you read, then you will definitely love this one: This Is North Korea’s Brutal “Three Generation Punishment”
Main Article Photo: Creative Commons
Photoshop: I’m A Useless Info Junkie
Sources: The Nanjing Massacre: A Japanese Journalist Confronts Japan’s National Shame | The Japanese “Kill 100 People with Sword” Contest in 1937 | Contest to kill 100 people using a sword
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