Japan's "Never Say Die" attitude...

CalBear

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They would have been wasted, quick smart.

That was a time when every Oz household had a 303. a 12 gauge shottie and a 22 leaning against the wall of the lounge.

Actually some still do.

:cool:

Interestingly, so do I, and I live in a U.S. city of 1,000,000. :D
 
Whilst not having read any of the books you guys have quoted, it is my understanding that Japan in the 20s was very westernised, but that a number of seperate events happened to coincide and lead to a very militarised society. The great depression, a yearning for a brighter place in the sun, the perceived humiliation of the washington treaty and so on. Net result, a militarised society hyped up on nationalistic steroids that led to a poorly equipped (by western standards at least) army that had total belief in itself and its ability combined with a healthy contempt for their decadent western adversaries.

However, something similar happened in Hitler's Germany, by the time the Hitler Youth were old enough to fight and formed the Hitler Jugund Div they gained a reputation of being fanatics who would fight to the death rather than surrender. My point being that any nation can breed a generation of quasi religious fanatics if the government in charge desires it.
 
:D, this was an interesting thread to begin with, but why am I not surprised that AmIndHistoryAuthor would come in here and blame everything on American racism?

On topic, I figure the glowing success of the rather poorly equipped Japanese military in the R-J War was pretty crucial to the notion that bushido and elan can counter technology and defeat the "decadent" west. If they outright lose there, the entire mindset probably wouldn't develop.
 
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