Remember: war is hell for the enemy as well

By Lethbridge Herald on November 7, 2025.

Tad Mitsui
For the Herald

Remembrance Day is the day to remember the war dead on both sides of conflict and be grateful for their sacrifice. He must promise never to repeat the folly of war.  My father once spoke about navy Lieutenant Paul Hideo Katayama of the Japanese Imperial Navy in his sermon. He wanted to express his gratitude for his ultimate sacrifice.

‘However, referring to the member of the church who died as a war criminal was not appreciated. He never mentioned the name again.

Recently I dug out the file that contained documents about Lt. Katayama. They were sent to me by a staff writer of a Japanese magazine 20 years ago.  In September 1947, the Australian Court for the B & C Class War Criminals on the Pacific Island of Ambon found Lt. Katayama guilty of executing Australian airmen after their bomber was shot down and were taken prisoners. It was a war crime in violation of the Geneva Convention.

Reading those documents, it dawned on me that we apply double standards in remembering “war dead.”   Most of them are honored as heroes but many others are disgraced or forgotten. In the movie or TV about the Second World War, we often see German, Italian, and Japanese soldiers behaving like inhuman sadistic demons.  The soldiers from the Axis countries were not all fascists, Nazis, nor barbarians.  Canada accepted millions of immigrants from those three countries as immigrants after the war.  Their descendants are now Canadian citizens. The soldiers from the “Axis” countries were mostly conscripted men who were ordinary people who had no choice when they were called up. The following is an attempt to rehabilitate one decent human being who became a victim of the madness of war and died as a war criminal.

In February 2006, I received an email from Ms Hiroko Imamura, a staff writer of a Japanese Evangelical Christian Magazine, “Gospel for the Millions.” She asked me what I knew about Navy Lt. Katayama.  She wanted to find out  why all his letters and diary from the prison were sent to my father Rev. Isamu Mitsui asking him to deliver them to Katayama’s widowed wife, his family, and friends. I had no idea.

Ms. Imamura also told me that Lt. Katayama’s story became a movie in Australia, titled “Who was Tried in Ambon?”  It was distributed in 1990 by the Warner Brothers in Australia.  The following year, it was shown in Japan with subtitles.  Now it is a part of the permanent archival collection of the Australian War Memorial in Canberra that also includes copies of Katayama’s last letters to his family and friends and the diary he wrote in prison.  

The whole story reads like a typical scenario of  “an innocent man executed for the crime he did not commit.”

The 18-year-old Hideo Katayama was admitted into the prestigious Tokyo University College of  Foreign Languages (Tokyo Gaigo Daigaku) and became fluent in English.  His goal in life was to become a foreign diplomat. Meanwhile, he converted to Christian faith while staying in the students residence managed by the Salvation Army.  He was baptized and became a member of  Ginza Methodist Church in Tokyo where my father Rev. Isamu Mitsui was a minister.

When the Second World War broke out, Katayama was conscripted into the navy. He became a language specialist with the rank of Lieutenant. He was assigned to be a member of the staff of the prisoners of war administration in the Pacific. He worked as an interpreter/translator on the Island of New Britain.

When Japan surrendered, all Japanese military personnel were shipped back to Japan at the end of 1945.  Katayama went home and got married.

A year later in 1946, a notice  was circulated among all veterans who served in the POW camps in the South Pacific to report to the Allied Occupation Forces Headquarters in Tokyo.  Some obliged but many former high ranking officers didn’t.  They knew what that was all about. Katayama reported in and was immediately arrested. He was sent to a prison camp in the Pacific Island of New Britain, where he was charged for unlawful execution of Australian airmen.  The trial lasted three days. He and another language officer were sentenced to death.  He denied the charge and appealed.  As an interpreter, he merely read the sentence in English.  He stayed in the camp for the war criminals for a year waiting for the outcome of his appeal which was unsuccessful.  He was executed in September 1947 by firing squad. He was 27 years of age.

Waiting for the outcome of his appeal, he was assigned to work for the administration of the war criminal camp as an interpreter and a translator. In the meanwhile he organized a Bible study group for the prisoners inviting Australian Army Chaplains to lead and conduct Sunday Service. The chaplains named the group “the Church of the Light (Hikari Kyokai).” 

Many prisoners were baptized. Some had their sentences reduced with the help from Katayama. During that time a few Australian officers in administration including chaplains began to wonder if Katayama was indeed guilty of the charge and launched an appeal. The Australians officers involved in the appeal began to discover strong evidence of the conspiracy among the Japanese senior officers who were in charge of the Allied POW camp administration to shift their guilt to junior officers. The process to save Katayama’s life was launched by those Australians.  

But it was too late.

Walter Cronkite was a CBS News anchor for 20 years. He said, “War itself, of course, is a form of madness. It’s hardly a civilized pursuit. It’s amazing how much time we spend inventing devices to kill each other and how little time working for peace.”