# 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:** 7
**Author:** ![amanset](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/8dc957/32.png) [@amanset](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/amanset)\ **Post date:** [December 25, 2010, 5:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-were-the-japanese-so-cruel-in-world-war-ii/565034/121 "2010-12-25T17:23:19Z")
> [@gonzomax](#): > > They obviously did not fight to the death. Unless given the chance to, maybe? ---
**Author:** ![Guinastasia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guinastasia/32/5751_2.png) [@Guinastasia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Guinastasia)\ **Post date:** [December 25, 2010, 5:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-were-the-japanese-so-cruel-in-world-war-ii/565034/122 "2010-12-25T17:57:32Z")
> [@gonzomax](#): > > Really, you don’t see the contradiction of you claiming the Japanese fight to the death, yet we took many thousands of them prisoners? > > They obviously did not fight to the death. Uh, kind of hard to fight to the death when you’re a prisoner, isn’t it? :dubious: Besides, that doesn’t have jack to do with soldiers holding out _forty-years_ after the end of a war. Did you even read the cite I provided? Because I can find others, if you like. ---
**Author:** ![gonzomax](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/e8c25b/32.png) [@gonzomax](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gonzomax)\ **Post date:** [December 25, 2010, 6:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-were-the-japanese-so-cruel-in-world-war-ii/565034/123 "2010-12-25T18:19:34Z")
> [@Guinastasia](#): > > Uh, kind of hard to fight to the death when you’re a prisoner, isn’t it? :dubious: > > Besides, that doesn’t have jack to do with soldiers holding out _forty-years_ after the end of a war. Did you even read the cite I provided? Because I can find others, if you like. What? You become a prisoner by not fighting to the death. You allow your enemy to take make you a POW by giving up. Ergo not fighting to the death. ---
**Author:** ![cckerberos](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f0a364/32.png) [@cckerberos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cckerberos)\ **Post date:** [December 25, 2010, 6:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-were-the-japanese-so-cruel-in-world-war-ii/565034/124 "2010-12-25T18:42:24Z")
> [@gonzomax](#): > > I read we had 48,000 Japanese prisoners after the war. They are like anybody else. Wait… what? Even if that number is accurate, it means that the Japanese took almost three times more prisoners just in the Battle of Singapore than we took during the entire war. Even if you believe (as I do) that the Japanese will to fight to the death has been exaggerated, that number shows that they were very much not like everybody else. ---
**Author:** ![Brandinho](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/6a8cbe/32.png) [@Brandinho](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Brandinho)\ **Post date:** [December 25, 2010, 8:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-were-the-japanese-so-cruel-in-world-war-ii/565034/125 "2010-12-25T20:48:37Z")
> [@gonzomax](#): > > They obviously did not fight to the death. By your logic, Hitler never ordered the murder of any Jews since some of them survived the Holocaust. Jews were just like any other ethnic group in WWII, right? ---
**Author:** ![AClockworkMelon](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aclockworkmelon/32/10803_2.png) [@AClockworkMelon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AClockworkMelon)\ **Post date:** [December 25, 2010, 9:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-were-the-japanese-so-cruel-in-world-war-ii/565034/126 "2010-12-25T21:31:36Z")
> [@Dissonance](#): > > Completely untrue. The Code of Bushido allowed for honorable surrender and required proper treatment of those taken prisoner. I’m going to need a cite. As far as I know, Bushido makes no allowance for “honorable surrender” (that’s an oxymoron). It doesn’t forbid the the execution and torture of non-combatants, either. And even if Bushido _did_ forbid that and allow “honorable” surrender, the Japanese considered all non-Japanese people to be subhuman. Bushido certainly doesn’t have any rules regarding treating _animals_ honorably and I’m sure it’d be considered _twice_ as dishonorable to surrender to one. ---
**Author:** ![ElvisL1ves](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/5daacb/32.png) [@ElvisL1ves](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ElvisL1ves)\ **Post date:** [December 25, 2010, 9:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-were-the-japanese-so-cruel-in-world-war-ii/565034/127 "2010-12-25T21:42:00Z")
I really doubt every single Japanese soldier bought into the concept wholeheartedly, though. ---
**Author:** ![AClockworkMelon](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aclockworkmelon/32/10803_2.png) [@AClockworkMelon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AClockworkMelon)\ **Post date:** [December 25, 2010, 9:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-were-the-japanese-so-cruel-in-world-war-ii/565034/128 "2010-12-25T21:51:30Z")
Aaand I thought this thread was only one page long. I hate it when I do that. \>.\< ---
**Author:** ![RedFury](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/ec9cab/32.png) [@RedFury](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RedFury)\ **Post date:** [December 26, 2010, 12:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-were-the-japanese-so-cruel-in-world-war-ii/565034/129 "2010-12-26T00:15:21Z")
This thread must be a gigantic whoosh. Otherwise its very premise is insane. Japanese felt (or were _made_ to feel through trough & tried methods) their enemies were subhuman and dealt with them as such, ergo, the Japanese are/were subhuman. :rolleyes: Disclaimer: obviously a generalization. But a fair one at that. ---
**Author:** ![RedFury](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/ec9cab/32.png) [@RedFury](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RedFury)\ **Post date:** [December 26, 2010, 12:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-were-the-japanese-so-cruel-in-world-war-ii/565034/130 "2010-12-26T00:23:34Z")
Feck. Try “through” instead. ---
**Author:** ![FinnAgain](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/finnagain/32/12500_2.png) [@FinnAgain](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FinnAgain)\ **Post date:** [December 26, 2010, 1:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-were-the-japanese-so-cruel-in-world-war-ii/565034/131 "2010-12-26T01:38:16Z")
> [@RedFury](#): > > Japanese felt (or were _made_ to feel through trough & tried methods) their enemies were subhuman and dealt with them as such, ergo, the Japanese are/were subhuman. Yes, certainly the concept isn’t that their military behaved abhorrently and individuals committed morally reprehensible acts. No, the argument is that they are or were subhuman. And, certainly, that’s not even a claim you’ve made up out of whole cloth. It really is something that anybody actually said. Indeed, many people have probably said something even vaguely alluding to the Japanese being “subhuman”. Since it’s not an absurd fiction. Nopers. ---
**Author:** ![gonzomax](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/e8c25b/32.png) [@gonzomax](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gonzomax)\ **Post date:** [December 26, 2010, 1:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-were-the-japanese-so-cruel-in-world-war-ii/565034/132 "2010-12-26T01:49:11Z")
Everybody demonizes their enemies. That is why we fought slants, gooks, Japs and Krauts. All were inhuman and would torture and kill us with no thought about it. They weren’t people like us. Of course they were told the round eyes would take no prisoners and would gleefully torture anyone they could. The Americans liked to torture Japanese soldiers. It is how wars are run But people are people. Don’t buy into it so easily. ---
**Author:** ![FinnAgain](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/finnagain/32/12500_2.png) [@FinnAgain](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FinnAgain)\ **Post date:** [December 26, 2010, 2:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-were-the-japanese-so-cruel-in-world-war-ii/565034/133 "2010-12-26T02:05:53Z")
The only difference between the Amish and the Nazis is fashion sense. ---
**Author:** ![Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\ **Post date:** [December 26, 2010, 3:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-were-the-japanese-so-cruel-in-world-war-ii/565034/134 "2010-12-26T03:34:40Z")
> [@cckerberos](#): > > I don’t think this is true. The beheading contest (which possibly never took place), was reported in Japan as victories in hand-to-hand combat, not the killing of prisoners… More on this: [Hundred man killing contest - Wikipedia](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Contest_to_kill_100_people_using_a_sword) > [@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. I read this book last year, and it was very interesting. The author felt ashamed that he had let down his people and his Emperor by surrendering, and - indoctrinated by Japanese propaganda - fully expected to be tortured or killed by the Americans. He was astonished but deeply grateful for the good treatment he got as POW, acknowledging that, if the roles were reversed, his own countrymen would have been far harsher. ---
**Author:** ![Guinastasia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guinastasia/32/5751_2.png) [@Guinastasia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Guinastasia)\ **Post date:** [December 26, 2010, 4:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-were-the-japanese-so-cruel-in-world-war-ii/565034/135 "2010-12-26T04:23:38Z")
> [@gonzomax](#): > > Everybody demonizes their enemies. That is why we fought slants, gooks, Japs and Krauts. All were inhuman and would torture and kill us with no thought about it. They weren’t people like us. > Of course they were told the round eyes would take no prisoners and would gleefully torture anyone they could. The Americans liked to torture Japanese soldiers. It is how wars are run > > But people are people. Don’t buy into it so easily. That’s right, we’re discussing this because we want to bash the Japanese. Not because, you know, it actually happened. Do you accuse people of bashing Germans when they talk about the Holocaust? :rolleyes: ---
**Author:** ![gonzomax](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/e8c25b/32.png) [@gonzomax](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gonzomax)\ **Post date:** [December 26, 2010, 4:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-were-the-japanese-so-cruel-in-world-war-ii/565034/136 "2010-12-26T04:28:57Z")
> [@Guinastasia](#): > > That’s right, we’re discussing this because we want to bash the Japanese. Not because, you know, it actually happened. > > Do you accuse people of bashing Germans when they talk about the Holocaust? > > :rolleyes: Why would I ? The Japanese were very nasty to their prisoners. But so were we. So were the Russians and the English. It was war, something we do way too often. Time to pick up your eyes again. When did I chastise anyone for saying the Japanese mistreated prisoners. They did. But so did everyone else. It is time we quit doing such horrible things to each other. the first step is realizing everybody does horrible things in war. Then stop doing them. ---
**Author:** ![Guinastasia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guinastasia/32/5751_2.png) [@Guinastasia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Guinastasia)\ **Post date:** [December 26, 2010, 4:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-were-the-japanese-so-cruel-in-world-war-ii/565034/137 "2010-12-26T04:31:00Z")
> [@gonzomax](#): > > Why would I ? The Japanese were very nasty to their prisoners. But so were we. So were the Russians and the English. It was war, something we do way too often. > Time to pick up your eyes again. > When did I chastise anyone for saying the Japanese mistreated prisoners. They did. But so did everyone else. It is time we quit doing such horrible things to each other. the first step is realizing everybody does horrible things in war. Then stop doing them. Because what we did was NOT ON THE SAME LEVEL AS THE JAPANESE OR THE NAZIS. [Unit 731](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Unit_731) [Japanese War Crimes](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Japanese_war_crimes) When the U.S. starts vivisection on POWs, including children and infants, then come back. ---
**Author:** ![Guinastasia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guinastasia/32/5751_2.png) [@Guinastasia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Guinastasia)\ **Post date:** [December 26, 2010, 4:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-were-the-japanese-so-cruel-in-world-war-ii/565034/138 "2010-12-26T04:37:08Z")
[Doctors of Depravity](http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-439776/Doctors-Depravity.html) ---
**Author:** ![Koxinga](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/4af34b/32.png) [@Koxinga](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Koxinga)\ **Post date:** [December 26, 2010, 4:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-were-the-japanese-so-cruel-in-world-war-ii/565034/139 "2010-12-26T04:54:18Z")
> [@gonzomax](#): > > Why would I ? The Japanese were very nasty to their prisoners. But so were we. So were the Russians and the English. It was war, something we do way too often. > Time to pick up your eyes again. > When did I chastise anyone for saying the Japanese mistreated prisoners. They did. But so did everyone else. It is time we quit doing such horrible things to each other. the first step is realizing everybody does horrible things in war. Then stop doing them. I must say, you’re the first crypto-Holocaust denier I’ve heard take this tack. “Well, _anyone_ would have come up with Zyklon B given the chance, you know? War’s a horrible thing, why revisit the past? Can’t we all just get along?” Is this your own invention, or are the white supremacist boards promoting this as a tactic for a new generation? ---
**Author:** ![tomndebb](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/b9e5f3/32.png) [@tomndebb](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tomndebb)\ **Post date:** [December 26, 2010, 5:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-were-the-japanese-so-cruel-in-world-war-ii/565034/140 "2010-12-26T05:08:10Z")
> [@Koxinga](#): > > I must say, you’re the first crypto-Holocaust denier I’ve heard take this tack. Nothing **gonzomax** has ever posted has indicated a denial that the Nazis attempted to carry out their Final Solution. ( **gonzo** does have a habit of viewing various actions in U.S. history in the worst possible light, but he has never made any attempt to deny the evil of the Nazis. You are out of line.) Given that, your odd wandering off topic comes across as either a direct personal insult or a hijack. Knock it off. [/Moderating] [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-were-the-japanese-so-cruel-in-world-war-ii/565034.md?page=6) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-were-the-japanese-so-cruel-in-world-war-ii/565034.md?page=8)