Yeah, the ISIS creeps couldn’t hold a candle to the ferocity of Imperial Japanese troops.
Don’t think ISIS has yet fought a real army with the exception of the Kurds, and the Kurds have kicked their butts each time they’ve engaged. The Japanese on the other hand defeated, sometimes easily, some of the strongest, most modern armies and navies of the time.
[ Yeah, the ISIS creeps couldn’t hold a candle to the ferocity of Imperial Japanese troops. ]
I think it had to do with the fact that the Japanese’s god was their emperor and he pretty much wasn’t running around raping goats and marrying 4 year olds. At least in that era i think. That and he actually existed / was still alive and they actually had pictures of him, whereas a pic/image of “mad mo” would get you stoned in a bad way.
I think the code of honor also applied even more to their own leaders too, so their leaders would kill themselves (by not blowing themselves killing innocents in the process, but dicing their own guts with a sword).
So if you know your leaders are what you consider “honorable to the point they will kill themselves if they screw up” your soldiers might be far more willing to die in glorious battle.
That and they honestly seemed to love their homeland and their women at home and protected them and treated them with care unlike how ISIS treats their women like easily replaceable livestock. A lot of the Japanese war propaganda was slanted to play upon protecting their homeland despite the expansionist nature of their Asian expansionist conquests.
So if you have women you actually care for, and a living god figurehead type person, i can see these factors creating a ferocity when it comes to fighting on their behalf even if they were fighting and doing bad things for all the wrong horrible reasons.
ISIS is just a bunch of gangbangers compared to the vicious efficient (and heavily propagandized) Japanese.