Horror in the East: Death Before Surrender

The program starts out nothing that Shinto, during WWII, was linked directly to the military in the service of Japan. It was referred to as State Shinto during that time. The world had various gods, the sun-goddess being directly tied in to the Emperor.

The Emperor was considered a god and was also he supreme commander of the Japanese military forces.

The orders the soldiers received were given in the name of the Emperor.

He talks about how the soldiers were told that the Emperor was a living god and, if you died in combat, you became a god and your soul was enshrined at Yasukuni Shrine.

The soldiers were told that, under no circumstances, were they to be captured alive.

The Japanese method of death before surrender did not lead to respect by American soldiers. The American soldiers came to think the Japanese soldier was cruel and sadistic and this kind of thing resulted in the Pacific Theater of war being far nastier on a personal basis than the European theater.

The film says that due to Pearl Harbor, Japanese mistreatment of POWs, and their refusal to surrender, they were then considered to be a dishonorable foe.

One of the songs from the war. (Basically, songs, comics, movies, etc. were used as propaganda against the Japanese during the war. They also had their own propaganda against us, of course. )

The film discusses how people in the United States had relatives that were German or Italian or knew German and Italians, but did not know any Japanese. This helped formed the soldier's different view of the Axis allies. Another ex-soldier talks about how Japanese dead were treated, including the taking of gold teeth from them. The Japanese were regarded as sub-human.

A girl in the U.S. She has a souvenir here boyfriend sent back from the Pacific war.

In Australia, some Japanese soldiers became cannibals, eating their own dead and enemy dead.

One researcher found out there was more cannibalism than previously thought (documents about that weren't declassified until the 1990's), and was a group activity as well as an individual activity.

Japanese military higher-ups knew about the cannibalism and said that eating Japanese dead was forbidden, but you could eat enemy dead.

The Japanese soldiers were told that the Emperor himself would visit their soul's residence at Yasukuni Shrine.

In Saipan, thousands of civilians killed themselves because they had been told that the American forces would rape and torture them.

The Japanese would spin the war news and make it appear that even defeats were glorious.

Even very young children were indoctrinated on the idea of dying for the Emperor.

Once islands close enough to Japan were captured B-29's were used to begin a saturation bombing of various cities in Japan, firebombing being the most effective at killing large numbers of people.

About 100,000 Japanese died during the firebombing of Tokyo.

The Japanese turned to the use of kamikaze, hoping to get more favorable peace terms if they would surrender. One of the former pilots is interviewed and explains how many 'volunteers' for the missions only joined because they figured if they didn't volunteer they would be sent somewhere to the South where they would die anyway, and if they didn't volunteer their families might be shunned.

24 American ships were sunk and around 200 damaged near Okinawa during the kamikaze attacks.

This guy was a civilian living on one of the islands the Americans attacked. The civilians, children included, were told the American soldiers would rape them and kill them so they choose to commit suicide, including killing those around them. This man helped kill his own mother.

American soldiers land on Okinawa.

The Japanese soldiers had dug in like they did on Iwo Jima. The Japanese military thought that both their soldiers and the civilians on the island would fight strongly against the Americans and that this might lead to a compromised peace.

This former Marine says that, late in the war, they just didn't take prisoners. If some Japanese tried to surrender they would be killed. This was due to experiences earlier in the war when Japanese soldiers would pretend to surrender and then would blow themselves up, hoping to kill some Americans.

Mistreatment of American and British and Australian POWs by the Japanese is then discussed. In one case, of around 1800 POWs only 6 survived, and those by escaping into the jungle.

This man killed around a dozen POWs himself and says he does not feel guilty about it, that it was just the war and that was the way it was.

Hirohito was not put on trial but was allowed to continue as Emperor.

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Japan main page
Japanese-American Internment Camps index page
Japan and World War II index page

Horror in the East: Death Before Surrender

The program starts out nothing that Shinto, during WWII, was linked directly to the military in the service of Japan. It was referred to as State Shinto during that time. The world had various gods, the sun-goddess being directly tied in to the Emperor.

The Emperor was considered a god and was also he supreme commander of the Japanese military forces.

The orders the soldiers received were given in the name of the Emperor.

He talks about how the soldiers were told that the Emperor was a living god and, if you died in combat, you became a god and your soul was enshrined at Yasukuni Shrine.

The soldiers were told that, under no circumstances, were they to be captured alive.

The Japanese method of death before surrender did not lead to respect by American soldiers. The American soldiers came to think the Japanese soldier was cruel and sadistic and this kind of thing resulted in the Pacific Theater of war being far nastier on a personal basis than the European theater.

The film says that due to Pearl Harbor, Japanese mistreatment of POWs, and their refusal to surrender, they were then considered to be a dishonorable foe.

One of the songs from the war. (Basically, songs, comics, movies, etc. were used as propaganda against the Japanese during the war. They also had their own propaganda against us, of course. )

A girl in the U.S. She has a souvenir here boyfriend sent back from the Pacific war.

In Australia, some Japanese soldiers became cannibals, eating their own dead and enemy dead.

One researcher found out there was more cannibalism than previously thought (documents about that weren't declassified until the 1990's), and was a group activity as well as an individual activity.

Japanese military higher-ups knew about the cannibalism and said that eating Japanese dead was forbidden, but you could eat enemy dead.

The Japanese soldiers were told that the Emperor himself would visit their soul's residence at Yasukuni Shrine.

In Saipan, thousands of civilians killed themselves because they had been told that the American forces would rape and torture them.

The Japanese would spin the war news and make it appear that even defeats were glorious.

Even very young children were indoctrinated on the idea of dying for the Emperor.

Once islands close enough to Japan were captured B-29's were used to begin a saturation bombing of various cities in Japan, firebombing being the most effective at killing large numbers of people.

About 100,000 Japanese died during the firebombing of Tokyo.

24 American ships were sunk and around 200 damaged near Okinawa during the kamikaze attacks.

This guy was a civilian living on one of the islands the Americans attacked. The civilians, children included, were told the American soldiers would rape them and kill them so they choose to commit suicide, including killing those around them. This man helped kill his own mother.

American soldiers land on Okinawa.

The Japanese soldiers had dug in like they did on Iwo Jima. The Japanese military thought that both their soldiers and the civilians on the island would fight strongly against the Americans and that this might lead to a compromised peace.

Mistreatment of American and British and Australian POWs by the Japanese is then discussed. In one case, of around 1800 POWs only 6 survived, and those by escaping into the jungle.

This man killed around a dozen POWs himself and says he does not feel guilty about it, that it was just the war and that was the way it was.

Hirohito was not put on trial but was allowed to continue as Emperor. Main Index Japan main page Japanese-American Internment Camps index page Japan and World War II index page

Hirohito was not put on trial but was allowed to continue as Emperor.

Main Index
Japan main page
Japanese-American Internment Camps index page
Japan and World War II index page