This thesis studies some of the most famous war crimes committed by the Japanese imperial army during World War II, and the biggest amount of attention is given to the representation of these topics in the political and social sphere of post-war Japan. The first chapter gives a brief look back on the state of Japan before the war. The trial of Japanese war criminals at the Tokyo trial is also reviewed. The thesis examines how openly the war crimes were talked about and provides insight into various perspectives on the issue. Many Japanese politicians and scholars felt that criticisms of the Japanese military and its actions during the war were wrong of unfair, and those opinions are presented in the thesis as well. The goal of this thesis is to show the development of the public debate on Japanese war crimes that took place in post-war Japan to understand the current situation. The first war crimes that the thesis examines is the Nanking massacre, a topic of many discussions. Some people questioned the exact number of victims, while there were also opinions that stated that the entire event was a lie The next topic was Unit 731, a special branch of the Japanese imperial army thar oversaw the development of biological weapons. Inhuman experimentations were conducted there on live human test subjects. The activities of Unit 731 were brought to the light of the public eye in the eighties of the last century because the Japanese government kept it hidden from the public. The thesis also examines the “comfort women” issue, women who were forced into sexual slavery by the Japanese army. That subject also became a public topic during the eighties. The next chapter examined the Tokyo trials, for which many people say that was an act of the winner’s justice during which Japan was unjustly trialed. Then, various debates about Japanese history textbooks were examined, during which their objectivity when portraying Japan during the Second world war was examined. The closing chapter examined the Yasukuni shrine, in which the spirits of soldiers that died for the Japanese emperor are worshiped. That includes soldiers that participated in the Second world war, and some of them are classified as war criminals. These topics encouraged many fiery debates in Japanese society and will likely continue to do so. But it is important to emphasize that history is written by the victors and that every side in a discussion should be considered.