Politics
As of 2016, Japan has still not apologized to other Asian nations for the experiments performed on their citizens. Prime Minister Shinzo Abe regards the atrocious experimentation during World War II as "another product of war." However, many Japanese are aware of the terrible atrocities committed by Japan in World War II, and several people have spoken about it.
"In Germany, teachers explain about the Holocaust and how the Nazi party should never be allowed to come to power again to their students. However, in Japan, wartime butchery is concealed from the textbooks because Japan's actions in China and throughout Asia would be seen as an experiment."-Gregory D. Byrd, Unit 731 historian
"The war criminals are] martyrs who staked their souls to become the foundation of their nation[Japan].”-Shinzo Abe, in a speech at a memorial service honoring 1180 war criminals
"This is not just a Chinese concern; it is a concern of humanity."- Anonymous museum curator at the Unit 731 Museum
Source: YouTube-Arirang News
Warfare
"There are striking similarities between the diseases and weapons used by the Japanese military in China and those said to have been deployed by the United States against targets in northern Korea. The bombs found on the Korean Peninsula were made of metal, while those used in China were ceramic, but the symptoms reported in North Korea are very similar to those witnessed in China."-Masataka Mori, a professor of history at Shizuoka University in Japan
"In the light of all these and similar facts, the Commission has no option but to conclude that the American Air Force was employing in Korea methods very similar to, if not exactly identical with, those employed to spread plague by the Japanese during the Second World War."- the International Scientific Commission for the Investigation of the Facts Concerning Bacterial Warfare in Korea and China, set up by the Helsinki-based World Peace Council
Medicine
"Unit 731 proved scientifically that the best treatment for frostbite was not rubbing the limb, which had been the traditional method, but rather immersion in water a bit warmer than 100 degrees -- but never more than 122 degrees."- Keiichi Tsuneishi, leading scholar of Unit 731
"The developments of vaccines to treat the diseases, cultivated within the labs of Unit 731, were a medical breakthrough. Under the rubric of the Defensive Research Unit, technicians produced vaccines for eighteen diseases. At least 20 million doses of vaccine were produced at Ping Fan annually, and untold millions more were made at the other unit compounds."- Gregory Dean Byrd, Unit 731 historian
“The [Japanese antibacterial suit that protected Unit 731 scientists] was among the captured equipment found after the war, it was made of lightweight rubberized silk it was a coverall type outfit with a zipper front and neck draw strings. Boots, gloves and a hood were made of the same material. Because of the impermeable material, the suit was worn for short periods of time. The suit was not very durable, so rough work was avoided, but it was easy to move about in. The Japanese apparently used this suit for autopsy and decontamination work, but with slight modifications the suit could have been used for protection against biological warfare agents.”- Excerpt from Biological Warfare Activities and Capabilities of Foreign Nations, written in 1946.
"In Japan we say: the victor is always right, the defeated are always wrong. The things I witnessed were simply a fact of war." - Nobuyuki Abe, former Unit 731 member