Review of Tokyo Trial

The international issues of the "Tokyo Trials" following WWII are complex and profound. However this dramatic series takes a perspective not supported by recent scholarship. The series may have been biased by the production companies,who are Japanese and Dutch, as both countries had reasons to question the jurisdiction of the Court. Justice Pol, cast as the hero of the movie, raised, with the Dutch and French judges, important issues regarding the validity of judging the losing side based on a legal concept not yet formally accepted by the international community. Justice Pol's subsequent work suggests that his legal argument was formed by his opposition to the European countries. He and the series, argue the poorly supported argument that the US "forced" Japan to attack Pearl Harbor and the US could have prevented the war. True, but only if the US accepted Japan's occupation of China. Read Japan 1941: Countdown to Infamy for Japan's path to war told by a Japanese citizen. Watch China's version: "The Tokyo Trial".