well, their culture dictates that they die fighting than endure the shame of surrender. until they were forced to.

yes, they were brutal and they did a lot of horrible things to many people, including my own. but the greater east asia co-prosperity sphere actually makes sense in theory, at the very least. it was between choosing which colonial master to serve, the west or your fellow asians? i'm not in a position to judge which one is better. in my darker moments i prefer japanese culture to the trashy one we ended up with courtesy of the americans. only because it's more fascinating.

i only wish my grandfathers had fought the japanese for themselves and not for the western masters.