Were Japanese soldiers in World War II as cruel as portrayed in films?

 

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Japanese were far worse than portrayed in films. They behaved with incredible cruelty and contempt towards prisoners of war. This has been established beyond doubt.

The reason for this is that, according to their code of conduct, allowing oneself to be captured is a grossly dishonorable act. Better dead than dishonored.

Therefore, the prisoners were severely punished for allowing themselves to be captured.

A friend of my parents was an Australian soldier who had been captured and spent two years in a Japanese camp. When he came home, he was a living skeleton with a permanently tortured expression, reminiscent of the picture below. He had been a forced laborer building a railway. So many died of exhaustion or were executed for the amusement of the guards—unbelievably barbaric behavior for a civilized people like the Japanese.