According to the written confession of Yasuji Kaneko on 24 August 1954, he was born in Chiba Prefecture, Japan in 1920. He joined the Japanese War of Aggression against China in 1940 and was captured in August 1945.

Major offences:

From 25 to 29 May 1941: When relocating to Laiwu County seat, the squadron forced 300 Chinese peasants to carry the luggage. “I was responsible for monitoring and enslaving two Chinese peasants. I told them to ‘walk faster’ and beat them with club ... finally they fell unconscious on the way; so I enslaved peaceful Chinese peasants and brutally killed them”. “The First Squadron forced 20 persons to do hard work and cruelly killed them”.

In September 1941: In Laiwu County, “two peaceful peasants were arrested on the mountainside, and they said nothing when they were asked questions about the Eighth Route Army”. With companions, “tied their hands behind the back and hung them on wooden stakes, and then I lit straw below the stakes, thus burning them to death”.

In October 1941: In Xintai County, the squad “launched two small-sized canisters of tear gas while setting fire, and shot dead, burned dead or cruelly killed 150 people, including soldiers of the Eighth Route Army and peaceful peasants. I launched one canister of tear gas and lit a pile of straw beside the wall to set fire in the village. I also shot seven bullets from a rifle, killing three peaceful peasants running out from the village ... then I walked into the village and found five people seeking refuge in a well”; with companions, “threw a big stone of about 60 kilograms into the well and threw down a hand grenade, killing the five peasants with explosion”.

In November 1941: In Mengyin County, “I arrested a wounded soldier of the Eighth Route Army and a woman aged around 30 on a mountain”. With two others, “tied the hands of the soldier of the Eighth Route Army behind his back. I lifted his feet ... and the two others brought a big stone of about 40 kilograms and threw it at the head of the soldier of the Eighth Route Army, thus killing him. As for the woman, I and one private first class held her down, and another private first class forced down her throat a liquid that was the water solution of an industrial chemical used in the factory on the mountain ... and she died within ten minutes”.

In August 1942: In Yanggu County, together with two companions, sexually assaulted “one woman aged around 30”; “I forcedly held her down, sat on her and pressed down her hands”. One companion “separated her legs”, and the other companion “stuck a rod into her vulva and stabbed it down violently, thus brutally killing her”.

In May 1943: In Guantao County, was ordered to “shoot about 500 bullets, shooting dead around 31 people, including old people, children, and women, who tried to seek refuge”.

On 27 August 1943: In Linqing County, commander of the 44th Battalion, “in order to destroy the liberated areas, broke the riverbank of the Weihe River to flood the liberated areas, and spread the cholera virus”; “I personally dug with shovel and broke” the river dike near the Linqing Bridge.

In August 1944: In Shenxian County, Shandong Province, two companions “tied the hands of a peaceful peasant (name unknown) behind his back”, one companion tried to “cut the peasant’s neck with a hay cutter, but one third of the neck was still connected, so I and two other soldiers tied the peasant to a tree”, and that companion “bayoneted the peasant in the belly three times, thus cruelly killing him”.