Horror in the East: Turning Against the West

Opening scenes show the emaciated POWs of the Japanese then goes to one of the men who survived. He says the Japanese behavior was barbaric.

During WWI the Japanese fought on the same side as the British and they captured German soldiers. A guy who is the grandson of one of the German prisoners says he was told the Japanese treated the Germans rather well.

An Imperial Command of 1882 said that Japanese soldiers should act towards others with respect. The situation for the German prisoners was good enough that many stayed on after their release and lived in Japan.

Hirohito visited Britain in the early 1920's. Japan seemed to be adopting Western values.

On the other hand, the Japanese people were being taught that their Emperor was a living god.

The Armed Forces pushed that idea themselves.

Formerly in the Japanese Navy, this man says that, back before the war, the Japanese were concerned about their growing population and lack of natural resources to sustain that level of population. He says Japan did the same thing England, the United States and other countries did in the past; they used force to solve that kind of problem.

This shows areas under the control of Western powers during that early time.

1931, Japan invades China, gets condemned by the League of Nations, and then leaves the group.

Basically, what was going on was that Japan was saying if it had been all right for the Western nations to take over parts of Asia, they why shouldn't Japan be allowed to do the same thing which, on the face of it, is a rather reasonable argument. Japan worked on building up their military as they had dreams of even more expansion.

As the number of soldiers increased dramatically some worried over how such a large number would be controlled. Their answer was to make the training brutal. I a soldier made a mistake he would be beaten.

One former soldier says that something called 'self-punishment' would be used where recruits would slap each other.

This former soldier says he was beaten with fists.

The Japanese military wanted to get the Japanese people away from Western products and ideas. In this actual film Japanese who act like Western people do are made fun of.

Japanese women are seen to behave in an aggressive manner and the guy finally has enough of it.

In the 1930's, seven prominent Japanese, including two prime ministers, were murdered by the Japanese Army for opposing the expansion of Japan into Asia.

The Japanese military considered the Chinese to be subhuman, basically animals, and it was Japan's right to take over Chinese territory since the Chinese did not deserve the land.

Coverage of the attack on Nanking.

More on Nanking, about Japanese soldiers entering Chinese houses and raping the women. There are several accounts from Westerners living in Nanking.

One of the women who was bayonetted by the Japanese.

The killings and rapings continued even in the countryside areas. This guy was ordered to bayonet Chinese prisoners. (Note: some of the images in this section are extremely graphic. ) He says when the soldiers first entered a house they searched for valuables and then for women.

The film says that there can be no doubt that many millions of Chinese died due to the Japanese military. It adds that few of the soldiers who committed murder and/or rape were prosecuted for their crimes by the Japanese military.

After the war the Chinese did put some Japanese on trial for their crimes. This guy says he felt no guilt at all during the time for the things he did. He said he felt no guilt because he was fighting for the Emperor, who was a god and, in his name, they could do anything they wanted to the Chinese.

The film notes that Hirohito was the Supreme Commander of the Army, yet no evidence at all exists that he attempted to hold his soldiers to account for their actions.

The film talks about Hong Kong and how some of the British military higher-ups thought the Japanese were sub-human and would never form an intelligent fighting force.

The Japanese military thought that Germany would win the war and they signed a pact with Germany and Italy.

Then the film talks about Pearl Harbor.

The Japanese attacked Hong Kong. The Japanese were no longer in the League of Nations and the soldiers did not care what anyone said about how they treated their prisoners. It talk about how the Japanese murdered civilians there. They raped nurses.

The Japanese took some 350,000 ;prisoners of war in Southeast Asia. About 25% died in captivity.

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Japanese-American Internment Camps index page
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Horror in the East: Turning Against the West

Opening scenes show the emaciated POWs of the Japanese then goes to one of the men who survived. He says the Japanese behavior was barbaric.

During WWI the Japanese fought on the same side as the British and they captured German soldiers. A guy who is the grandson of one of the German prisoners says he was told the Japanese treated the Germans rather well.

An Imperial Command of 1882 said that Japanese soldiers should act towards others with respect. The situation for the German prisoners was good enough that many stayed on after their release and lived in Japan.

Hirohito visited Britain in the early 1920's. Japan seemed to be adopting Western values.

On the other hand, the Japanese people were being taught that their Emperor was a living god.

The Armed Forces pushed that idea themselves.

This shows areas under the control of Western powers during that early time.

1931, Japan invades China, gets condemned by the League of Nations, and then leaves the group.

As the number of soldiers increased dramatically some worried over how such a large number would be controlled. Their answer was to make the training brutal. I a soldier made a mistake he would be beaten.

One former soldier says that something called 'self-punishment' would be used where recruits would slap each other.

Japanese women are seen to behave in an aggressive manner and the guy finally has enough of it.

In the 1930's, seven prominent Japanese, including two prime ministers, were murdered by the Japanese Army for opposing the expansion of Japan into Asia.

Coverage of the attack on Nanking.

More on Nanking, about Japanese soldiers entering Chinese houses and raping the women. There are several accounts from Westerners living in Nanking.

One of the women who was bayonetted by the Japanese.

The killings and rapings continued even in the countryside areas. This guy was ordered to bayonet Chinese prisoners. (Note: some of the images in this section are extremely graphic. ) He says when the soldiers first entered a house they searched for valuables and then for women.

The film says that there can be no doubt that many millions of Chinese died due to the Japanese military. It adds that few of the soldiers who committed murder and/or rape were prosecuted for their crimes by the Japanese military.

The film notes that Hirohito was the Supreme Commander of the Army, yet no evidence at all exists that he attempted to hold his soldiers to account for their actions.

The film talks about Hong Kong and how some of the British military higher-ups thought the Japanese were sub-human and would never form an intelligent fighting force.

The Japanese military thought that Germany would win the war and they signed a pact with Germany and Italy.

Then the film talks about Pearl Harbor.

The Japanese took some 350,000 ;prisoners of war in Southeast Asia. About 25% died in captivity. Main Index Japan main page Japanese-American Internment Camps index page Japan and World War II index page

The Japanese took some 350,000 ;prisoners of war in Southeast Asia. About 25% died in captivity.

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