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Ikebukuro is a region of Tokyo known for its trendy fashion shops for women as well as a large entertainment complex that has a similar reputation to that of Akihabara.
Immediately after the war however, it was the site of Sugamo Prison, which held prisoners that the United States considered to be VIP POWs to be tried for war crimes. Between 1945 and 1952, the United States tried and executed 59 prisoners including familiar names such as Hideki Tojo - commander of the army who later became Prime Minister -, and Kouki Hirota (birth name Jotaro) - who was a former Prime Minister who had attempted and failed to negotiate peace with the Soviet Union. Disturbingly, Stalin's refusal to end the war and Hirota's inability to stop an army which he had no power over was enough for the Americans to execute him for. Most of the other executed were members of the military or government as well. Tojo's duty in the prison was to serve food to them all. This was intended to cause suffering for him because Tojo's classification was as an "A rank" prisoner. That is, he was guilty of "crimes against humanity", and was personally seen by the other prisoners as being responsible for their own current suffering. There were often conflicts between A prisoners and B and C prisoners, who were accused of lesser crimes. Among the B and C prisoners were mixed generals, anti-war activists, and the drafted, which created further tensions among the population.
In 1952, the prison was returned to the Japanese and the 18 remaining war criminals were all pardoned - including the famous Tokyo Rose - perhaps a hint as to what the Japanese thought about the actions of the United States at the time.
It was finally demolished in 1971. A skyscraper now sits where the prison used to be - which is in fact part of the entertainment complex mentioned in the first paragraph. Those who know its history consider the site to be haunted, but there is otherwise only a monument hidden away in the back of the former execution grounds - now a park - which might clue visitors into what transpired here. The monument simply says "Praying for eternal peace". To this day, people continue to bring flowers.
The fourth image is a photo of the former gallows at the time of the transfer from America to Japan. Why is this notable? Because written on the five gallows pillars were the names of the men executed on each of them. These men were all very important and respected - ministers, generals, leaders, etc. As such, the Japanese had planned to preserve the pillars in their honor. Knowing this, the Americans destroyed them all just prior to the transfer being signed.
- Machismo repeated this.
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@Remi Now matter how much you hate kikes, you don't hate them enough.
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I actually visited this monument a decade ago, though I had no idea what it was at the time. I just happened to be in the park and the rock really is very out of the way. I saw it through some bushes and something about it seemed important so I spent a few minutes trying to figure out what it was, much to the annoyance of my companion at the time. It was only after writing this post and looking for a photo of the monument did I realize it was familiar to me.
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@Remi Very interesting read. I've never heard of this monument, nor the incident
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@Tepid_Tapir A Jap posted the gallows photo on Twitter and I had to know more.
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