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Hello and welcome to the History of Japan podcast, Episode 238, Hell is Empty.

So, I've been putting this one off for a while.

Not because I think it isn't important, but because the subject matter is so incredibly

heart-rending to write about.

Historians don't, as a rule, like to throw out words like evil.

We don't generally see it as our rule to make objective ethical judgments, but to make arguments,

and leave it to our readers, or listeners,

to make those judgments themselves. And yet, I have a hard time of thinking of something like Unit

731 as anything other than objectively evil. But I'm getting ahead of myself. First, why did Japan

have a biowarfare program?

Well, as a concept, biological warfare is actually pretty old, and that makes a lot of sense.

Armies have always struggled with disease.

...