Judgement at Tokyo

Book review for Judgement at Tokyo by Gary J. Bass. I rated it 4.5 stars For some, the Tokyo War Crimes Tribunal (or officially The International Military Tribunal for the Far East) is considered as a form of “victor’s justice”. History is written by the victors, and so you could argue that the Americans were free to blame Japan for the terrible things that they did in WW2, without any sort of introspection on their own actions. On the other hand, Japan’s treatment of its prisoners of war and enemy civilians during WW2 was despicable, and there needed to be some accountability for their actions. Judgement at Tokyo provides a run-through of all the major events of the trial, as well as introducing us to its 11 judges (representing 11 of the countries that fought against Japan in the war). Of note is Chinese judge Mei Ju-ao, who was seeking justice after the events of the Nanjing Massacre, as well as Indian judge Radhabinod Pal, who was the only judge that argued for all of the…