These War Crimes Web Lists provide a fairly comprehensive enumeration of reported war crimes and their victims for the 1931-1945 war years. Most of the data sources draw their material from the files of the International Military Tribunal for the Far East (IMTFE) trials held in Tokyo and other war crimes tribunals and investigative bodies set up throughout the Far East at the end of the war. Other surviving victim accounts and accounts and analyses by governments, reporters and observers add to our knowledge. There is always the chance of some fabrication by those who seek amends from the Japanese; however the sheer quantity of reports from all the populations invaded makes it clear that war crimes were committed on a massive scale. The attached list cannot be considered complete since new revelations are appearing frequently as research increases in this once dormant area of history.

The numbers of victims in many cases are estimates as explained in the Web Tables (War Statistics) Introduction. Because of space limitations, J is used as a substitute for Japanese or Japan. See the parent book Imperial Japan's World War Two 1931-1945 Bibliography for the full reference based on the last names and publication data shown in these list sources. Atrocities were perpetuated on all sides, but Imperial Japan set the worst sort of example from the beginning, which inevitably caused a reaction. Those committed by the Japanese military far exceed in scope and policy anything committed by the Allies in defending themselves, or committed by Western colonial powers during their own colonial histories.

A comprehensive index to all War Crimes Lists can be found at the: War Crimes Web Lists