- Title
- Fanaticism, Japanese soldiers and the Pacific War, 1937-45
- Creator
- Trefalt, Beatrice
- Relation
- Fanaticism and Conflict in the Modern Age p. 33-47
- Relation
- http://www.informaworld.com/smpp/title~content=t732979209
- Publisher
- Frank Cass
- Resource Type
- book chapter
- Date
- 2005
- Description
- This chapter questions and complicates the notion of fanaticism as it has been applied to the Japanese soldiers of the Second World War. It does so by revisiting, first, well-established arguments that show that the persistence of the image of Japanese soldiers as fanatics is a result of wartime propaganda, that is itself based on older and more established notions of Orientalism. The image of the Japanese soldier as a fanatic is tainted with the kind of racism that is still often applied to perceived enemies of a different culture or ethnic background. Second, this chapter examines the propaganda of the Japanese government and the place in the soldiers' training of the emperor, of bushido, of a modern military tradition and of the 'cult of the fallen soldier'. Third, it examines the propensity of Japanese soldiers to fight to the death, and considers in particular the no-surrender ethos and its impact on the behaviour of soldiers. The scope of this chapter precludes a discussion of Japanese atrocities: other authors have discussed these in detail.
- Subject
- Japanese soldiers; Second World War; fanaticism; stereotypes; propaganda; military tradition
- Identifier
- http://hdl.handle.net/1959.13/35348
- Identifier
- uon:3874
- Identifier
- ISBN:714657166
- Language
- eng
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