Sugamo Police Station

In 1895, amidst the bustling energy of Tokyo, the Sugamo Police Station was established. It was originally built as a police prison, modeled after European prisons. The Sugamo Police Station, later known as Sugamo Prison, quickly became a significant landmark in the city’s landscape. Its early days were marked by the housing of political prisoners. These individuals were often dissenters who found themselves on the wrong side of the Peace Preservation Laws. As the world hurtled towards war, the Sugamo Police Station became a holding place for Allied spies and captured officers during World War II. One notable inmate was Richard Sorge, a Soviet spy, who met his end on the gallows within the prison walls on November 7, 1944. Following Japan’s defeat, Sugamo Police Station transitioned into a detention center for suspected war criminals. These individuals awaited trial before the International Military Tribunal for the Far East. Among them was Hideki Tojo, Japan’s wartime Prime Minister. He and six other Class-A war criminals were executed at Sugamo Prison on December 23, 1948. Their bodies were transported under heavy guard to the Yokohama Municipal Crematorium. Afterward, their ashes were secretly scattered over the Pacific Ocean, a move orchestrated to prevent their graves from becoming rallying points for ultranationalist sentiment. Following the end of the Allied occupation, the Sugamo Police Station was eventually decommissioned as a prison in 1962. The buildings were dismantled in 1971. Today, the Sunshine 60 Building, a towering skyscraper, stands on the site where the Sugamo Police Station once cast its long shadow. A lone stone marker, inscribed with the words “Pray for Eternal Peace”, serves as a poignant reminder of the prison’s complex history.