# Why were the Japanese so cruel in World War II? **URL:** \ **Category:** Great Debates\ **Created:** [December 22, 2010, 2:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-were-the-japanese-so-cruel-in-world-war-ii/565034 "2010-12-22T02:36:50Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Ranchoth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ranchoth/32/1066_2.png) [@Ranchoth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ranchoth)\ **Post date:** [December 22, 2010, 6:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-were-the-japanese-so-cruel-in-world-war-ii/565034/41 "2010-12-22T18:17:23Z")
> [@Malthus](#): > > In Sledge’s memoir, he recounts that after one battle, he saw a marine extracting gold teeth from a Japanese soldier with his combat knife - who was wounded in the spine, but not actually _dead_ [Eventially, another marine, unhappy about all the screaming, shot the Japanese soldier in the head]. > > I find it hard to imagine an American soldier in the war against Germany doing the same, or rather that his fellow-soldiers would tolerate it. The closest I’ve heard of is the times when the allies liberated various camps—Dachau, for instance. I can’t recall any prolonged torture or trophy taking, though I recall more than a few instances of former guards just being turned over to former prisoners who took their time killing them. I suspect another difference, even aside from the obvious racial aspect, is that the fighting in Europe took place in, well, Europe. A big developed continent, lots of infrastructure, civilians…cameras, military bureaucracy, reporters. It wasn’t the middle of nowhere. If the fighting had been against the 36th Waffen Grenadiers hopping across a series of isolated, miserable little islands in the Arctic Ocean, maybe it would have gotten more gruesome on the allies’ part. I dunno. ---
**Author:** ![smiling\_bandit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e9a140/32.png) [@smiling\_bandit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/smiling_bandit)\ **Post date:** [December 22, 2010, 6:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-were-the-japanese-so-cruel-in-world-war-ii/565034/42 "2010-12-22T18:32:15Z")
> [@Marley23](#): > > This isn’t a partisan issue. This goes fore everybody: please avoid further comments like this. While I’m sure we on the Right side of life appreciate it (e do, really), this is the Straight Dope. We’ve more or less either gotten used to mentally going :rolleyes: or just left. ---
**Author:** ![Ludovic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/7ab992/32.png) [@Ludovic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ludovic)\ **Post date:** [December 22, 2010, 6:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-were-the-japanese-so-cruel-in-world-war-ii/565034/43 "2010-12-22T18:58:21Z")
> [@Musicat](#): > > Maybe…once you’ve convinced yourself your enemy are subhumans not even worthy to live, you _become_ a dick. > > Another culture in the Western hemisphere comes to mind. Yeah, I hate Canada too. ---
**Author:** ![Slithy\_Tove](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/slithy_tove/32/18248_2.png) [@Slithy\_Tove](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Slithy_Tove)\ **Post date:** [December 22, 2010, 6:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-were-the-japanese-so-cruel-in-world-war-ii/565034/44 "2010-12-22T18:58:51Z")
I had watched [Nanking](http://www.hulu.com/watch/74369/nanking) over at Hulu the same week that I was reading Sarah Vowel’s [The Wordy Shipmates](http://www.amazon.com/Wordy-Shipmates-Sarah-Vowell/dp/1594489998#_), which includes a brief mention of Oliver Cromwell’s massacre after the Battle of Drogheda. By coincidence, both had graphic descriptions of a baby nursing at its mother’s breast as she lie dying. this isn’t to let the Japanese Empire off the hook, but just to note that it’s really a pretty crowded hook. ---
**Author:** ![Captain\_Amazing](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/6de8d8/32.png) [@Captain\_Amazing](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Captain_Amazing)\ **Post date:** [December 22, 2010, 7:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-were-the-japanese-so-cruel-in-world-war-ii/565034/45 "2010-12-22T19:02:07Z")
> [@Koxinga](#): > > The Japanese were uniquely cruel in their own way, to an extent that it shocked even the Nazis on the scene. Well, it shocked John Rabe, but I don’t think there’s anything more profound than that (and, in fact, Rabe got in trouble with the German government for his actions in Nanking). ---
**Author:** ![Slithy\_Tove](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/slithy_tove/32/18248_2.png) [@Slithy\_Tove](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Slithy_Tove)\ **Post date:** [December 22, 2010, 7:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-were-the-japanese-so-cruel-in-world-war-ii/565034/46 "2010-12-22T19:14:53Z")
And a few years later the [Japanese Ambassador to Lithuania](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chiune_Sugihara) saved more Jews than Oskar Schindler. ---
**Author:** ![Marley23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)\ **Post date:** [December 22, 2010, 7:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-were-the-japanese-so-cruel-in-world-war-ii/565034/47 "2010-12-22T19:14:54Z")
> [@smiling\_bandit](#): > > While I’m sure we on the Right side of life appreciate it (e do, really), this is the Straight Dope. We’ve more or less either gotten used to mentally going :rolleyes: or just left. I actually said “this goes for everybody,” so potshots from the right are equally unnecessary. Let’s stick to the topic, please. ---
**Author:** ![Malthus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/85f322/32.png) [@Malthus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Malthus)\ **Post date:** [December 22, 2010, 7:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-were-the-japanese-so-cruel-in-world-war-ii/565034/48 "2010-12-22T19:19:10Z")
> [@Ranchoth](#): > > The closest I’ve heard of is the times when the allies liberated various camps—Dachau, for instance. I can’t recall any prolonged torture or trophy taking, though I recall more than a few instances of former guards just being turned over to former prisoners who took their time killing them. > > I suspect another difference, even aside from the obvious racial aspect, is that the fighting in Europe took place in, well, Europe. A big developed continent, lots of infrastructure, civilians…cameras, military bureaucracy, reporters. It wasn’t the middle of nowhere. If the fighting had been against the 36th Waffen Grenadiers hopping across a series of isolated, miserable little islands in the Arctic Ocean, maybe it would have gotten more gruesome on the allies’ part. I dunno. That seems a very different sort of reaction to me - more along the lines of revenge, or a sense of moral revulsion at _those_ particular Nazis, for what they had done. I got the impression, from reading Sledge’s memoir, that the Marines were simply shocked, desensitized and brutalized by the brutality of the combat experence they were subjected to - against an enemy they perceived as absolutely merciless and uncaring of life, and under conditions that were horribly atrocious in their own right. So I guess I’d agree that the setting made a great deal of the difference. Plus, at least where the Western Allies were concerned, the German army (aside from certain incidents, often involving the SS) was perfectly willing to extend the honours of war to enemy soldiers, give and accept surrenders, etc. ---
**Author:** ![storyguide3](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9f8e36/32.png) [@storyguide3](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/storyguide3)\ **Post date:** [December 22, 2010, 7:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-were-the-japanese-so-cruel-in-world-war-ii/565034/49 "2010-12-22T19:31:01Z")
> [@Malthus](#): > > So I guess I’d agree that the setting made a great deal of the difference. Plus, at least where the Western Allies were concerned, the German army (aside from certain incidents, often involving the SS) was perfectly willing to extend the honours of war to enemy soldiers, give and accept surrenders, etc. Even within the confines of the European war, setting is very important. The character of prisoner treatment between the Eastern and Western Fronts is quite marked. If anything, what happened in Russia was closer to what was going on with the Japanese in Asia, except that both sides were doing, it not just one. It is, perhaps, illustrative of the effects of dehumanizing the enemy on any military force. Nazi ideology thought about as much of Slavs as the Japanese government/ideology thought of their enemies as a whole. The similarity of results is interesting. As for the Russians, they were at least in part motivated by revenge and, let’s face it, the culture that had grown up under Stalin was well steeped in mistreatment of prisoners, so it is not surprising that this attitude would be extended to the invading Germans. ---
**Author:** ![Dissonance](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/85f322/32.png) [@Dissonance](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dissonance)\ **Post date:** [December 22, 2010, 7:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-were-the-japanese-so-cruel-in-world-war-ii/565034/50 "2010-12-22T19:56:16Z")
> [@Zsofia](#): > > ETA - **Malthus** snuck in - I’ve read _Fires on the Plain_, which is a novel based on the experiences of the author who survived the ugly fighting in the Phillipines near the end of the war. It’s ghastly. The funny thing is, I read it in a Japanese Literature class where almost every single author killed himself after a miserable awful life, and then there’s this guy who survived real horrors and died peacefully after a long life. The author of _Fires on the Plain_ also wrote [Taken Captive: A Japanese POW’s Story](http://www.amazon.com/Taken-Captive-Japanese-POWs-Story/dp/0471142859), which is a non-novelized autobiography of his experiences. ---
**Author:** ![E-Sabbath](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/e19adc/32.png) [@E-Sabbath](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/E-Sabbath)\ **Post date:** [December 22, 2010, 9:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-were-the-japanese-so-cruel-in-world-war-ii/565034/51 "2010-12-22T21:03:11Z")
> [@Malthus](#): > > In Sledge’s memoir, he recounts that after one battle, he saw a marine extracting gold teeth from a Japanese soldier with his combat knife - who was wounded in the spine, but not actually _dead_ [Eventially, another marine, unhappy about all the screaming, shot the Japanese soldier in the head]. > > I find it hard to imagine an American soldier in the war against Germany doing the same, or rather that his fellow-soldiers would tolerate it. I can ancedotally confirm instances of similar behavior on the Western Front. Also the taking of German ears. Dunno if they were lying, but I have heard stories of that and similar incidents from people who were either there, or in the same unit. ---
**Author:** ![Malthus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/85f322/32.png) [@Malthus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Malthus)\ **Post date:** [December 22, 2010, 9:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-were-the-japanese-so-cruel-in-world-war-ii/565034/52 "2010-12-22T21:04:40Z")
> [@Dissonance](#): > > The author of _Fires on the Plain_ also wrote [Taken Captive: A Japanese POW’s Story](http://www.amazon.com/Taken-Captive-Japanese-POWs-Story/dp/0471142859), which is a non-novelized autobiography of his experiences. The description of that book is very interesting - allegedly, the Americans treated Japanese captives much better than the captives themselves thought they deserved - being captive, they simply assumed that they _deserved_ to be treated harshly! ---
**Author:** ![Malthus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/85f322/32.png) [@Malthus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Malthus)\ **Post date:** [December 22, 2010, 9:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-were-the-japanese-so-cruel-in-world-war-ii/565034/53 "2010-12-22T21:06:35Z")
> [@E-Sabbath](#): > > I can ancedotally confirm instances of similar behavior on the Western Front. Also the taking of German ears. Dunno if they were lying, but I have heard stories of that and similar incidents from people who were either there, or in the same unit. Woah. Maybe there wasn’t such a difference after all. ---
**Author:** ![Damuri\_Ajashi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/898d66/32.png) [@Damuri\_Ajashi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Damuri_Ajashi)\ **Post date:** [December 22, 2010, 9:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-were-the-japanese-so-cruel-in-world-war-ii/565034/54 "2010-12-22T21:17:45Z")
> [@Marley23](#): > > This isn’t a partisan issue. This goes fore everybody: please avoid further comments like this. I guess my humor doesn’t translate very well. ---
**Author:** ![Marley23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)\ **Post date:** [December 22, 2010, 9:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-were-the-japanese-so-cruel-in-world-war-ii/565034/55 "2010-12-22T21:19:35Z")
> [@Damuri\_Ajashi](#): > > I guess my humor doesn’t translate very well. I got that it was a joke, it’s just that conservatives would probably not find it very amusing (nor would liberals if the joke went in the other direction) and I’d like to keep the thread on track. ---
**Author:** ![Damuri\_Ajashi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/898d66/32.png) [@Damuri\_Ajashi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Damuri_Ajashi)\ **Post date:** [December 22, 2010, 9:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-were-the-japanese-so-cruel-in-world-war-ii/565034/56 "2010-12-22T21:23:22Z")
> [@Slithy\_Tove](#): > > And a few years later the [Japanese Ambassador to Lithuania](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chiune_Sugihara) saved more Jews than Oskar Schindler. And didn’t he get fired by the japanese (after the war was already over) for it? ---
**Author:** ![Damuri\_Ajashi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/898d66/32.png) [@Damuri\_Ajashi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Damuri_Ajashi)\ **Post date:** [December 22, 2010, 9:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-were-the-japanese-so-cruel-in-world-war-ii/565034/57 "2010-12-22T21:24:39Z")
> [@E-Sabbath](#): > > I can ancedotally confirm instances of similar behavior on the Western Front. Also the taking of German ears. Dunno if they were lying, but I have heard stories of that and similar incidents from people who were either there, or in the same unit. And I WANT my scalps. ---
**Author:** ![Captain\_Amazing](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/6de8d8/32.png) [@Captain\_Amazing](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Captain_Amazing)\ **Post date:** [December 22, 2010, 10:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-were-the-japanese-so-cruel-in-world-war-ii/565034/58 "2010-12-22T22:16:05Z")
> [@Damuri\_Ajashi](#): > > And didn’t he get fired by the japanese (after the war was already over) for it? He was made to resign, but whether it was over the stuff he did in Lithuania or not is debateable. The official reason was just that Japan was reducing its diplomatic corps. Unofficially, though, some people have suggested that it was because of his actions in Lithuania. ---
**Author:** ![Susanann](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/7ab992/32.png) [@Susanann](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Susanann)\ **Post date:** [December 23, 2010, 12:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-were-the-japanese-so-cruel-in-world-war-ii/565034/59 "2010-12-23T00:31:22Z")
> [@Evil\_Captor](#): > > The weird thing though is that US soldiers were brutally tortured and killed in Japanese prison camps, … much more systematically brutal than the Germans. > > I don’t believe any group has come close to torturing and killing American prisoners on the scale that the Japanese did it … but somehow, it doesn’t seem to matter.) I had 2 good fiends who were Japanese POWs and who lived thru it, but I can not even repeat the horrors that they told me that they went thru and what they saw the Japs do to fellow prisoners. I dont even like to think about it. Frankly, I am surprised that my 2 friends, or anybody, actually lived thru the Jap POW camps. It matters to me, still to this day, and you will never find me in a Japan car. ---
**Author:** ![interface2x](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/c0e974/32.png) [@interface2x](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/interface2x)\ **Post date:** [December 23, 2010, 12:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-were-the-japanese-so-cruel-in-world-war-ii/565034/60 "2010-12-23T00:38:00Z")
> [@Malthus](#): > > In Sledge’s memoir, he recounts that after one battle, he saw a marine extracting gold teeth from a Japanese soldier with his combat knife - who was wounded in the spine, but not actually _dead_ [Eventially, another marine, unhappy about all the screaming, shot the Japanese soldier in the head]. This scene is depicted in episode 7 of “The Pacific”, by the way. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-were-the-japanese-so-cruel-in-world-war-ii/565034.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-were-the-japanese-so-cruel-in-world-war-ii/565034.md?page=4)