I would love to understand the thought process behind this. I would be greatly interested to understand what why all prisoners were treated so horribly, not just focusing on Japan/China atrocities. I was told that they were motivated loosely by the Bushido code and their great sense of nationalism. I would love to understand this whole aspect of the war more. I learned a lot about the Nazis and such but less about the Japanese culture and their feelings about the war and their country. Thank you in advance, although good responses will be personally thanked as well.
To a large extent the treatment of POWs was simply an extension of how the Japanese treated their own soldiers.
Japan's invasion of the Pacific and South-East Asia was very poorly thought through, extemporised, and very optimistic. The initial treatment of Western POWs- at Singapore and in the Philippines for example, was mostly bad but mixed. At this stage the treatment was a combination of wanting to humiliate Westerners in front of the locals to emphasise who was in charge, and the venting of pent-up national paranoia and xenophobia that was inculcated into Japanese people from childhood by the military-controlled school system. The military used control of schooling to great effect, most subjects were taught in a militaristic way and loyalty to the 'Emperor', whose authority was effectively under the control of the military, was the highest virtue.
This was all the more heightened by the situation in 1930s Japan, which was characterised by a reactionary, military-led ultra-nationalist movement that rejected the growing 'Westernisation' and democratisation of the country in the 1920s. Parallel with this, young men were inculcated with Bushido-style supposed traditions, built around old samurai stories that glorified guile, cunning and brutal, capricious violence.
Yet another element was the fact that prisoners were often guarded by second-rate troops, often from Korea or other Japanese colonies, who were neither disciplined nor trustworthy enough for the regular army.
By late 1942 most Japanese garrisons in the Pacific were in trouble. Many were cut off and the Japanese high command's attitude was that such troops were expendable. Starvation and desperate supply and support situations were absolutely standard across the Pacific. Japanes etroops were forbidden to surrender and rarely did, but without ammunition or cohesion this often simply meant eking out an existence in remote jungles. By 1944 many Japanese units were gardeners, trying to grow tapioca roots or whatever they could eat.
Garrisons left to starve and die from disease were hardly likely to do anything special for prisoners.
"Japan's War" Edwin P Hoyt. "Reassessing the Japanese Prisoner of War Experience: The Changhi Prisoner of War Camp in Singapore, 1942-45" Havers "Prisoners of the Japanese: POWs of World War II in the Pacific" Gavan Daws
I've wondered this too, from the very light reading on this it seems more like they wanted to expand their empire, not a religious or moral thing.