One Japanese war veteran confesses to 328 murders. A former army sergeant describes throwing babies onto camp fires for laughs. Another says he raped and killed a woman, then carved up her body to feed to his troops. Those are some of the macabre confessions in a controversial documentary that promises to stir up painful memories of Japan`s World War Two aggression and raise tough questions about individual responsibility for wartime atrocities.
Elderly veterans and curious youngsters were among the crowd at Japan`s first public showing of "Japanese Devils", a three-hour mea culpa in which 14 former imperial army soldiers recall their brutal role in their country`s war against China between 1931 and 1945.

"Once you`ve killed your second or third, you stop thinking about it," Yasuji Kaneko, a former army corporal, tells the camera, describing how he grew numb to slaughter after bayonet drills using live Chinese prisoners tied to stakes.
"It was ultimately about competition," another veteran says, reeling off a litany of horrors that included burning Chinese babies just for fun. "So how many you killed becomes a standard of achievement."

The documentary has been shown at film festivals around the world, notching up prizes for director Minoru Matsui in Germany and Portugal.
But its screening on home soil threatens to hit a raw nerve in a country where frank discussion about wartime atrocities remains largely taboo, and a backlash from right-wing activists is a real possibility. Bureau Report