Nakamura Incident

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The Nakamura Incident refers to the killing of a Japanese Army captain Nakamura Shintaro, on 27 June 1931 by Chinese soldiers in Manchuria, which did not become known to the Japanese until about 17 July 1931.

[edit] Background

Captain Nakamura, a regular Japanese Army officer, was on a mission under orders of the Japanese Army. Early in June, Captain Nakamura obtained a "huchao" (Chinese for pass or passport) from the Mukden Special Delegate of the Ministry for Foreign Affairs, for the purpose of travelling through Manchuria. This "huchao" excluded the territory between Taonan and Solun (Hsingan Colonization Area) from travel by the Captain. At Harbin, however, a second "huchao" was secured which, according to the Japanese Consul General, gave the desired permission to travel in the Taonan-Solun area.

Captain Nakamura was accompanied by three interpreters and assistants; a Mongolian interpreter, a Russian interpreter, and a Japanese man named Isugi, who was a retired Japanese army sergeant. The Captain represented himself as an "Agricultural Expert". The party of four left Pokotu on the Chinese Eastern Railway about the middle of June, their immediate destination being Taonan. Nakamura conducted "investigations" along the Chinese Eastern Railway, at Manchuli, Tsitsihar, Angangehi, and Hailar.

On June 27, 1931, the members of the party were arrested by Chinese troops under the command of Kuan Yuheng, Commander of the Third Regiment of the Chinese Reclamation Army in Manchuria, at a place near Taonan, called Suokungfu, east of Solun and Wangfu. According to the Chinese, Nakamura was armed and carried patent medicines, which included narcotic drugs for non-medical purposes. He and his assistants were taken to Solun, where they were shot on July 1st and their bodies were cremated to conceal the evidence of the deed. The execution may have been ordered because the Chinese had discovered that Nakamura's mission was to find water sources and places for encampment in northwest Manchuria, for the future operations of Kantogun.

This "Incident" aggravated the resentment of the Japanese Military against the "Friendship Policy"; and the Japanese Press repeatedly declared that "solution of the Manchurian Problem ought to be by force!"