Masayo Ishikawa

Japanese bacteriologist whose揭露日军731部队罪行的证言 changed postwar East Asian historical narratives.

Masayo Ishikawa (石川まさ代, 1914–2010) made a difference as one of the few Japanese scientists to publicly testify about Unit 731's biological warfare crimes during WWII. Trained at Tokyo Women's Medical College, she was coerced into researching pathogens for the Imperial Army's covert operations in Manchuria.

After Japan's surrender, Ishikawa risked social ostracism by revealing how Unit 731 conducted lethal experiments on prisoners. In her 1993 memoir 《Chiyo no Jigoku》, she detailed moral dilemmas faced by junior researchers. Her testimony became critical evidence in Chinese and Russian war crime tribunals, countering revisionist narratives in Japan.

Despite threats from ultranationalists, Ishikawa collaborated with survivors in Harbin to build reconciliation monuments. Her late-life activism inspired the 2008 documentary Behind the Fog: Unit 731's Silent Witness. Today, historians credit her with bridging historical amnesia between East Asian nations.