As I understand it, Seppuku was a Japanese form of suicide due to dishonor or similar, often for samurai. Was it still a thing by the time of militarist Japan in WW2? Did a losing general consider committing seppuku if he survived after grave losses, for example? Just a curiosity. Thanks in advance!
Wasn't sure if this is the 1930s theme as it was more 1940s, but history from actual people is interesting either way imo.
Seppuku was still present, yet quite rare, in modern Japan during the Meiji period in the late Nineteenth and early Twentieth centuries. However, by the end of the 1930s, with the increased Western influence on politics and culture, Seppuku was often generally deemed as unsavory and unnecessary in modern Japan.
Yet, within the Second World War Seppuku re-emerged particularly within, as you have noted, in the military. Generally, in the early and mid-stage of the Pacific War, many Japanese officers, with their soldiers, were committed to fighting to the death against the American forces as usually popularised in movies/tv shows by enmassed Bonzai charges. However by the ending stretches of the war, faced with certain defeat and possible invasion/destruction of the Japanese mainland, many officers decided to kill themselves through Seppuku instead of surrendering to American soldiers (their fate may have not been much better if they did surrender).
After the war, with overwhelming American influence and presence in politics and culture, Seppuku transgressed back into the 1930s state of embarrassment and disgust which had no place within a modernised Japan.
I hope this is somewhat useful/interesting, if you're interested in modern Japanese history I've found Marius B. Jansen's 'The Making of Modern Japan' (London: Harvard University Press) particularly great at illuminating, in substantive depth, Japan's transformation during the Nineteenth and Twentieth centuries.