Chapter 2. The Tokyo trial revisited

This chapter re-examines the Tokyo Trial in comparison with the International Criminal Court (ICC). It examines the characteristic points of the Tokyo Trial historically in relation to the development of international criminal law. The direct background of the Tokyo Trial which was somewhat different from that of the Nuremberg Trial, can be found in the declarations on Japan of the principal Allied Powers during World War II. Among the crimes provided for in Article 5 of the Tokyo Charter, crimes against peace, for which there shall be individual responsibility, is the most disputed of the Tokyo Trial. In the Tokyo Trial, war crimes and crimes against humanity were not clearly distinguished in the Indictment nor in the Judgment. After the Judgment, it seemed that estimations of the works of the Tokyo Trial have been deeply divided. Keywords: crimes against humanity; International Criminal Court (ICC); international criminal law; Nuremberg Trial; Tokyo Charter; Tokyo Trial; war crimes; World War II