Tokyo War Crimes Tribunal Opens — Asia's Nuremberg

The International Military Tribunal for the Far East (IMTFE) opened in Tokyo on May 3, 1946, trying 28 Class A Japanese war crimes suspects. The tribunal ran for two and a half years, ultimately convicting 25 defendants: 7 were hanged (including former Prime Minister Hideki Tōjō), 16 received life imprisonment, and 2 died during proceedings. Unlike Nuremberg, the IMTFE did not indict Emperor Hirohito — a deliberate political decision by MacArthur to use the imperial institution to stabilize Japan's occupation. The tribunal's legitimacy has been more contested than Nuremberg; critics note the exclusion of the Emperor and Japan's biological warfare program (Unit 731) from prosecution in exchange for research data.