Thread: Japanese Preferred Suicide

Almost all Japanese preferred suicide to surrender. These infantrymen on Tarawa have shot themselves in the head, using a toe to pull the trigger.

They definitely do. Death is most preferable to dishonor for them. Japanś war time military code was patterned after Bushido, the old code of the Samurai, where seppuku (ritual suicide, not harakiri, which mean bowel/abdomen slice/open) is the preferred method to atone for dishonor.

I do not think I could ever do something like that. I would have probably have gone off and hide in some cave till the war was over > they have guts, you gotta give them that.

And also why Allied P.o.W's were treated so badly by the Japanese. They considered surrender a coward's way out essentially, believing that soldiers should fight to the death.

Originally Posted by wallstreeterww

I would have probably have gone off and hide in some cave till the war was over.

yep, you and me both buddy

It is called Hara Kiri! I think it all began back on the Tokogawan era; it is the time when they don’t have a government to rule them all. Samurai’s would prepare to die, if they failed to protect their masters.

That is a heck of a way of at looking at honor. I personally am with the above poster. I would have hid out or died trying to get away. I admit I in no way could kill myself.

I remember seeing this on Discovery Channel where a Japanese woman jumped over a cliff carrying with her her child. Honor is something the Japanese cherish to this day.