'The Burmese Harp'

One of the earliest films that portrayed, fondly, World War II and the Pacific fighting from the point of the view of the Japanese. Years later, Clint Eastwood would do the same with Letters from Iwo Jima.

I think it audacious to think that the Axis troops -- the steadfast Germans and the proud Japanese -- were just cold-blooded murderers willing to die before surrending. Moreso the Japanese. Not tha they didn't have their convictions because they certainly did, to a point.

On the other hand, a lot of them probably did not want to die no matter how much they really wanted to procure small islands in the Pacific.

Of anyone's reasons to get wrapped up in such a war, I'm not entirely clear on Japan's. The Germans thought they were a superior people, whether that was racial or just philosophically superior in a continent with such a long and rich history. The Germans thought they were on top, a maniacal leader who thought he was destined rule the world for 1,000 years.

The Japanese are still a mystery to me, really. As much as Germany's militarization was caused by the aftermath of the Treaty of Versaille that ended World War I, it also perpetrated Japan's expansionist ideals. Japan fought on the side of the Allies during World War I and took a number of islands, other areas on the mainland and a large chuck of Siberia.

They were forced to give most of everything back. So, part of the expansionist doctrine is rooted in Japan getting the shaft after World War I, after fighting when others (see: Russia) quit.

I still don't know if all those 17-year-old boys were willing to die for all of it whether they chose to or not.