A civic memorial gathering exposing the crimes of Japan"s infamous Unit 731 is held on July 19, 2026 in Tokyo, Japan. Photo: Courtesy of Liu Wenzhang

　　A civic memorial gathering was held on Sunday in Tokyo, which exposed the crimes of Japan"s infamous Unit 731 bio warfare troops and pressed for further investigation into human remains discovered at the former site of the Imperial Japanese Army Medical School to uncover truths Japanese authorities have long covered up intentionally.

　　The event brought together nearly 100 citizens, historians and researchers to examine Japan"s wartime biological warfare program.

　　Opening the event, Kazuyuki Kawamura, a representative of the organizer group displayed archival photographs of the headquarters building of the Epidemic Prevention and Water Supply Department of Kwantung Army, known as Unit 731, in Harbin, Northeast China"s Heilongjiang Province.

　　Reviewing the unit"s history, Kawamura said its predecessor, the Army Epidemic Prevention Research Laboratory, was established in 1932, while a dedicated laboratory building completed in 1933 later became a central site for human experimentation. Although the postwar trials against Japan avoided holding Unit 731 accountable, they documented atrocities committed by Unit 1644, including the capture of civilians for live human experiments.

　　The Sunday gathering also publicly presented two key firsthand testimonies in full. Organizers played an audio recording of the 1949 Khabarovsk Trial interrogation of Shunji Sato, former commander of the Japan"s "Central China Epidemic Prevention and Water Purification Department," together with a recorded testimony by his subordinate Yoshio Kurihara.