Nishi also knew about the frostbite experiments. Prisoners, warmly dressed but bare-armed, were taken outside when it was twenty below zero. A fan blew air over their arms. “This was done until their frozen arms, when struck with a short stick, emitted a sound resembling that which a board gives out when it is struck.” Then they were brought inside. “These researches were being conducted with a view to future war with the U.S.S.R.”

Nicholson Baker, Baseless- My Search for Sec…, loc. 624