[onelifecrisis]

Originally Posted by Takeda Shingen

That much is certainly true. The Japanese philosophy of society, the individual's place in that society, and how war was viewed were very different than it was in western societies. The Germans were dangerous enemies, but inderstandable in the western sense. A surrounded German would surrender, as any of his other western counterparts. The Japanese, by the same standards, were wholly unpredictable; a surrounded Japanese soldier might surrender, or he might kill himself, or he might blow himself, and everyone in his immediate vicinity to pieces. As you and others have also alluded, a Japanese pilot might strafe you with machine gun fire, drop bombs or torpedos, or fly his plane directly into your ship. I imagine that it is quite unnerving to fight an enemy whose philosophy is so alien to your own.

My point exactly.