Re: Liberated Japanese POWs

Space Captain Kurt Kosmic <cam@xxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
On Jan 13, 4:31 am, "Geoffrey Sinclair" <gsinclai...@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
wrote:

Looks like New Zealand ended up with around 800 Japanese
prisoners.

Also if I may comment on the Japanese mentality of not surrendering,
I'd like to suggest it was more than a simple dedication to duty or
fanaticalism. While I was studying the sociology of Japanese
religion, my reading pointed to an apparent religious belief that in
being prepared to kill, you must also be prepared to be killed. It
was seen as an injustice that a soldier might have just killed 10
people but could then expect to surrender and be well treated until
the end of the war. A Japanese concept of a path to enlightenment
through the way of death is reflected in some fringe Buddhist
teachings - although my studies were so long ago I can't seem to
recall them.

It would make sense, but it's kinda wrong. Even during the Senkokujidai,
Japanese negotiated surrenders (and an abbrogation by Oda of a surrender
negotiated by Akechi led to a reprisal against his family, which led
to his betrayal of Oda.) Surrendered troops readily took up with new masters,
if they were lucky. And during the Russo-Japanese war, this stigma was
not present.

BASICALLY, the Japanese reluctance to being captured was due to the possiblilty
(or probability) of being killed anyway, and not necessarily in a pleasant
fashion.

Mike

.

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