Why were Japanese soldiers so brutal against China in world war II?

Question

I read this list of Japanese atrocities commted against China, there's a crapload and yet Japan still denies it.

Answer 1

Your answer goes back much further than WWII. What happened in WWII, like what we're seeing in the Middle East, was about more than the war that was going on. It was about generations of discord between the two nations stemming back to the foundation of Japan as an independent kingdom, and the medieval conflicts between a burgeoning Japanese nation and an established Chinese empire. The two had been at opposite ends for a long long time, and what happened in WWII was Japan taking the opportunity to dish out a little payback for the last time the Chinese had the upper hand. We don't think about Asia like that anymore because their relationship is so seemingly different now, but that is the way it was. China had the same kind of relationship with Japan that it currently has with Taiwan. It's only a matter of time before history repeats itself.

Answer 2

The answer has to do with the underlying belief systems that where prevalent in Japan. The Feudal samurai's warrior ethos the cultural animosity between the two countries and also the lack of control that the Imperial Japanese Army had over its troops and officers once they went to China. They have been warring against each other for a very long time. For the personal solider the brutality must have either been some sought of manifestation of what they had been taught by there society.
Hope this helps i think it is a good question that answer lies with understanding human psycology. There was a couple of famous experiments: the Stanford prison and Milgram experiments. You can look them up on the web,
Cheers Good luck Zonkvert

Answer 3

China and Japan have been rivals since... Well, probably ages. The relationship was defined through a constant imbalance - China dominated until the war of 1894/5, but then Japan kept large regions of China under control and the relationship was thus turned around. The rivalry was largely defined by the continuing quarrel about Korea - who was to rule it? (Korea, by the way, was under Chinese control and happy with it.) In 1875, China allowed Korea independence. This resulted in constant quarrels in Korea - some wanted to belong to Japan, some to China - and eventually war broke out. The relationship is still tense, but there hasn't been war since 1945.

Answer 4

The Japanese were brutal to everyone that they conquered, not just the Chinese.

The Japanese used to believe that they were descended from the Sun goddess, and were divine, and that all other humans were just animals.
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So why the "thumbs down" for an honest answer? I suppose that the truth hurts for some historical revisionists:

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...Japan, led by a militaristic government, had an increasingly imperialistic and colonial program in the 1930s. Many Japanese were virulently racist, not only towards Europeans, but also against other Asian peoples such as Koreans, Ainu, and Chinese. To these Japanese racists, anyone who was not Japanese was considered inferior and treated as such. Rapid industrialization and progress through the 19th and 20th centuries meant that Japan was economically and technologically ahead of most of its neighbours. Japan used that technological lead to invade its neighbors and pursue its own expansionist ambitions, again an example of Social Darwinism....

Answer 5

worldwide conflict II began generally simply by fact the yankee people have been unwilling to connect the League of countries on the top of world conflict I, thereby removing what would have been that corporation's important militia means. This introduced approximately, or allowed a minimum of, Hitler's upward thrust to means in Germany. there have been various factors at which he became thoroughly overextended and any style of a tutor of stress via the League or perhaps in basic terms a number of its member countries would have placed an end to his plans, however the different ecu powers constantly caved in to him, appeasing him at almost each turn and permitting the territory, manpower and uncooked components decrease than his rule to repeatedly boost. Then while the Friendship %. between Germany and Russia became signed, his lower back became coated and he would desire to assault, first Poland and then the international places to the west. American isolationism became the main important reason.

Answer 6

For a great period of history, China was a suppresor of Japan if I remember my history studies, They were brutal indeed as they view the Japanese as slightly above animals. Sort of like the equaly foolish slave trade here in USA. Wrong, but made it easier to behave badly and feel ok with it.
Much like Taiwan and mainland Chine now.

Answer 7

It is retrosta (answerer 6) who has it right. Ordinary Japanese soldiers committed similar atrocities in Manchuria, in Korea, and particularly in Burma againsts British POWs. Prisoners were starved, tortured, mutilated, and murdered, not in obedience to orders from higher up, but for the sadistic pleasure of their guards who TRULY BELIEVED that it was okay to treat other people like that, worse than slaves or animals, just because they were non-Japanese. Modern Japan does not like to be reminded of this.

"When you go home, remember us, and say:
For your tomorrow, we gave our today."

Answer 8

The Japanese then were one of the most racist (if not the most) countries in the world. All others were sub-human. They deny it because now it is embarrassing, simple as that.

Answer 9

they considered the chinese people as sub-humans, much like the germans considered the non-aryans

Answer 10

PRC killed one million innocent people in Tibet. Beijing govt would not admit it.
The Cultural Revolution killed 20 million Chinese. Beijing communist govt would not admit it.
China invaded India and Vietnam. PRC refuses to apologize.
PRC is the most bloody country in Asia.