Others suggest that war crimes tribunals are inherently unfair in that they only judge the loosing nation, they often let criminals get away with their crimes, and they punish those who were taking orders instead of those who were giving them. Some infamous examples of war crimes tribunals are the Tokyo and Nuremburg trials, which have been widely accepted as two of the most successful (McMorran)
Tanaka's book is a detailed and often uncomfortable look at war crimes committed against others by the Japanese, and why the Japanese felt it necessary to commit these crimes. Author Tanaka states his purpose for writing this book early in the Introduction when he writes, "To master the past' -- what the Germans call Vergangenheitsbew ltigung -- is, I believe, the most appropriate answer to such questions" (Tanaka 1)