HMembers of the House are already aware that many people have recently arrived in Britain postcards and letters from prisoners held at Far East. The authors of almost all of these letters report that they are treated well and that they are healthy. Judging by what we know about the situation of prisoners in certain areas of the Far East, it is safe to say that at least some of these letters were written under the dictation of the Japanese authorities.
I must unfortunately inform the House that the information received by His Majesty's Government shows absolutely beyond doubt, so far as the vast majority of prisoners in Japanese hands are concerned, that the actual state of affairs is quite different.
The House already knows that approximately 80 to 90% of Japanese civilians and military personnel interned are housed in southern region, including the Philippine Islands, the Dutch West Indies, Borneo, Malaya, Burma, Siam and Indo-China. The Japanese government still does not allow representatives of neutral countries to visit prison camps.
We could not obtain from the Japanese any information about the number of prisoners located in various areas, nor their names.
His Majesty's Government have received information regarding the conditions of detention and work of prisoners of war in some parts of this area. This information was of such a grim nature that it might have caused concern to the relatives of prisoners and interned civilians in Japanese hands.
The government considered it its responsibility to verify the accuracy of the information received before making it public.
Thousands of deaths
We are now convinced of the reliability of the information received. It is my sad duty to inform the House that there are now many thousands of prisoners in Siam, originally from the British Commonwealth, particularly from India.
The Japanese military forces them to live in tropical jungle conditions without good enough shelter, without clothing, food and medical care. Prisoners are forced to work on the gasket railway and on the construction of roads in the jungle.
According to the information we have received, the prisoners' health is rapidly deteriorating. Many of them are seriously ill. Several thousand prisoners have already died. I can add to this that the Japanese informed us of the death of a little more than a hundred prisoners. Roads built by prisoners go to Burma. The conditions I spoke about prevail throughout the entire construction period.
Here is what one eyewitness says about the prisoner of war camp in Siam:
“I saw a lot of prisoners, but they looked little like people: skin and bones. The prisoners were half naked, unshaven, their long, overgrown hair was tangled in tatters.”
The same witness said that the prisoners had neither hats nor shoes. I would like to remind the House that this is happening in an area with tropical climate, in an almost deserted area, where it is impossible to receive either medical or any other help from the population.
We have information about the situation of prisoners in another part of this huge southern region. Evidence from Java suggests that prisoners held in unsanitary conditions in camps are not protected from malaria. Food and clothing are not enough. This leads to a deterioration in the health of prisoners, who only sometimes manage to supplement their rations with something.
Information received from northern region, they talk about the complete exhaustion of most of the prisoners arriving from Java.
Regarding the conditions of detention of prisoners in other parts of the southern region, I do not yet have information that I could report to the House.
Before I finish with the southern region, I must mention one exception. The information at our disposal suggests that conditions in the civilian internment camps are much better, or at least tolerable.
Gross bullying
The Japanese Government's refusal to grant neutral observers permission to inspect the camps in the southern region cannot be justified on plausible grounds, since the Japanese Government allowed neutrals to inspect the camps in the northern region, which includes Hong Kong, Formosa, Shanghai, Korea and Japan. We believe, however, that this inspection did not touch enough large number camps.
His Majesty's Government has reason to believe that the conditions of detention of prisoners in this area are generally tolerable, although the Minister of War has more than once pointed out that the food being issued is not enough to maintain health for a long time. I would like to add, however, that conditions for prisoners in Hong Kong appear to be deteriorating.
If the trials experienced by the prisoners were limited only to what I have already described, then that would be bad enough. But unfortunately, the worst is yet to come.
We have a growing list of gross abuses and atrocities committed against individuals and groups. I would not like to burden the House a detailed story about atrocities. But to give an idea of them, I unfortunately must give a few typical examples.
I will first cite two cases of brutal treatment of civilians. A Shanghai municipal police officer, along with 300 other nationals of the Allied countries, was sent by the Japanese to a camp for the so-called “politically unreliable”, located on the Haifun Road in Shanghai.
This officer aroused the discontent of the Japanese gendarmerie against himself and was transferred to a station located in another part of the city. He returned from there distraught. The deep wounds on the arms and legs left by the ropes festered. He lost about 20 kilograms in weight. A day or two after his release, the officer died.
Execution of three prisoners
The second case occurred in the Philippine Islands. On January 11, 1942, three British nationals escaped from a civilian internment camp in Santo Tomas (Manila).
They were caught and flogged.
On January 14, a military court sentenced them to death penalty, despite the fact that the international convention provides in this case only for the imposition of disciplinary punishment. The prisoners were shot with automatic weapons. They died in agony, since the first wounds were not fatal.
I turn now to cases of brutal treatment of soldiers. The Japanese, having captured a group of Indian soldiers in Burma, tied their hands behind their backs and sat them down by the road. Then the Japanese began to bayonet the prisoners one by one. Each was apparently inflicted with three wounds.
By some miracle, one of the soldiers managed to escape and make his way to our troops. From him we learned about this torture.
In another case, he was tortured British officer known to us regiment, captured in Burma. They beat him in the face with a saber, then tied him to a post and tied a rope around his neck. In order not to suffocate, he had to constantly reach up. Then the officer was subjected to further torture.
Fortunately for him, at this time the Allied army soldiers went on the offensive, the Japanese fled, and the officer was rescued by British tank crews.
Ship of Terror
The third case involved a ship called the Lisbon Maru, which was used by the Japanese to transport 1,800 British prisoners of war from Hong Kong.
The ship "Lisbon Maru".
In one hold, two prisoners died where they lay, and no attempt was made to remove their corpses.
On the morning of October 1, 1942, the Lisbon Maru was torpedoed by an Allied submarine. Japanese officers, soldiers and sailors left the prisoners locked in the holds and abandoned the ship, although it sank only a day after the torpedoing.
The ship had several life belts and other life-saving equipment. Only some of the prisoners managed to escape from the holds and swim to the shore under fire from Japanese soldiers. The rest (at least 800 people) died.
What has been said is enough to get an idea of the barbaric character of our enemy - the Japanese. They trampled not only principles international law, but also all norms of decent and civilized behavior.
His Majesty's Government, through the Swiss Government, made many energetic representations to the Japanese Government.
The answers we receive are either evasive, cynical, or simply unsatisfactory.
We had the right to expect that the Japanese government, having learned about these facts, would take measures to improve the conditions of detention of prisoners. The Japanese know well enough that a civilized power is obliged to protect the life and health of prisoners captured by its army. They showed this by their treatment of prisoners during the Russo-Japanese War and the War of 1914 - 1918.
Let the Japanese government take into account that the conduct of the Japanese military authorities in the current war will not be forgotten.
It is with the deepest regret that I had to make this statement in the House of Commons. But after consultation with those allies who equally are victims of these unspeakable atrocities, His Majesty's Government considered it their duty to make these facts public.
Until December 7, 1941, there was not a single military conflict with an Asian army in American history. There were only a few minor skirmishes in the Philippines during the war with Spain. This led to underestimation of the enemy American soldiers and sailors.
The US Army heard stories of the brutality with which the Japanese invaders treated the Chinese population in the 1940s. But before the clashes with the Japanese, the Americans had no idea what their opponents were capable of.
Routine beatings were so common that it is not even worthy of mention. However, in addition, captured Americans, British, Greeks, Australians and Chinese had to face slave labor, violent marching, cruel and unusual torture, and even dismemberment.
15. Cannibalism
It is no secret that during times of famine people begin to eat their own kind. Cannibalism occurred in the expedition led by Donner, and even the Uruguay rugby team that crashed in the Andes, the subject of the film " Alive" But this always happened only in extreme circumstances. But it is impossible not to shudder when hearing stories about eating the remains of dead soldiers or cutting off parts from living people.
The Japanese camps were deeply isolated, surrounded by impenetrable jungle, and the soldiers guarding the camp were often as hungry as the prisoners, resorting to horrendous means to satisfy their hunger. But for the most part, cannibalism occurred due to mockery of the enemy. A report from the University of Melbourne states:
« According to the Australian lieutenant, he saw many bodies that were missing parts, even a scalped head without a torso. He argues that the condition of the remains clearly indicated that they had been dismembered for cooking.».
14. Inhuman experiments on pregnant women
Dr. Josef Mengele was a famous Nazi scientist who experimented on Jews, twins, dwarfs and other concentration camp prisoners and was wanted by the international community after the war for trial for numerous war crimes. Pay attention to the article 10 of the most evil fascists you've never heard of. But the Japanese had their own scientific institutions, where no less than terrible experiences over people.
The so-called Unit 731 conducted experiments on Chinese women who were raped and impregnated. They were purposefully infected with syphilis so that they could find out whether the disease would be inherited. Often the condition of the fetus was studied directly in the mother's womb without the use of anesthesia, since these women were considered nothing more than animals to be studied.
13. Castration and suturing of the genitals in the mouth
In 1944, on the volcanic island of Peleliu, a soldier Marine Corps While having lunch with a friend, I saw the figure of a man heading towards them across the open area of the battlefield. As the man approached, it became clear that he was also a Marine soldier. The man walked bent over and had difficulty moving his legs. He was covered in blood. The sergeant decided that he was just a wounded man who had not been taken from the battlefield, and he and several colleagues hurried to meet him.
What they saw made them shudder. His mouth was sewn shut and the front of his trousers was cut. The face was distorted with pain and horror. Having taken him to the doctors, they later learned from them what really happened. He was captured by the Japanese, where he was beaten and brutally tortured. Soldiers Japanese army cut off his genitals, stuffed them into his mouth, and sewed him up.
It is unknown whether the soldier was able to survive such a horrific outrage. But the reliable fact is that instead of intimidating, this event produced reverse effect, filling the hearts of the soldiers with hatred and giving them additional strength to fight for the island.
12. Satisfying doctors' curiosity
People practicing medicine in Japan did not always work to alleviate the plight of the sick. During World War II, Japanese " the doctors" often carried out cruel procedures on enemy soldiers or ordinary citizens in the name of science or simply to satisfy curiosity. Somehow they became interested in what would happen to the human body if it was twisted for a long time.
To do this, they placed people in centrifuges and spun them sometimes for hours. People were thrown against the walls of the cylinder and the faster it spun, the more pressure was exerted on the internal organs. Many died within a few hours and their bodies were removed from the centrifuge, but some were spun until they literally exploded or fell apart.
11. Amputation
If a person was suspected of espionage, then he was punished with all cruelty. Not only soldiers of Japan's enemy armies were subject to torture, but also residents of the Philippines, who were suspected of providing intelligence information for the Americans and British. The favorite punishment was to simply cut them alive. First one arm, then perhaps a leg and fingers.
Next came the ears. But all this did not lead to quick death, but was done so that the victim would suffer for a long time. There was also the practice of stopping bleeding after cutting off a hand, when several days were given for recovery to continue torture. Men, women and children were amputated; no one was spared from the atrocities of the Japanese soldiers.
10. Torture by waterboarding
Many believe that waterboarding was first used by US soldiers in Iraq. Such torture is contrary to the country's constitution and appears unusual and cruel. This measure may be considered torture, but it may not be considered that way. It is definitely a difficult ordeal for the prisoner, but it does not put his life at risk. The Japanese used waterboarding not only for interrogation, but also tied prisoners at an angle and inserted tubes into their nostrils.
Thus, the water went directly into the lungs. It didn't just make you feel like you were drowning, like waterboarding, but the victim actually seemed to drown if the torture went on for too long.
9. Freeze and Burn
Another kind of inhumane research human body was a study of the effects of cold on the body. Often, as a result of freezing, the skin fell off the victim's bones. Of course, the experiments were carried out on living, breathing people who had to live with limbs from which the skin had fallen off for the rest of their lives.
But not only the effects of low temperatures on the body were studied, but also high ones. They burned the skin on a person’s hand over a torch, and the prisoner ended his life in terrible agony.
8. Radiation
X-rays were still poorly understood at that time, and their usefulness and effectiveness in diagnosing disease or otherwise were in question. Irradiation of prisoners was used especially frequently by Detachment 731. Prisoners were gathered under a shelter and exposed to radiation.
They were taken out at certain intervals to study the physical and psychological effects of the radiation. With particularly large doses of radiation, part of the body burned and the skin literally fell off. The victims died in agony, as in Hiroshima and Nagasaki later, but much more slowly.
7. Burning Alive
Japanese soldiers from small islands in the South Pacific were hardened, cruel people who lived in caves, where there was not enough food, there was nothing to do, but there was a lot of time to cultivate hatred of enemies in their hearts. Therefore, when they captured American soldiers, they were absolutely merciless to them.
Most often, American sailors were burned alive or partially buried. Many of them were found under rocks where they were thrown to decompose. The prisoners were tied hand and foot, then thrown into a dug hole, which was then slowly buried. Perhaps the worst thing was that the victim's head was left outside, which was then urinated on or eaten.
6. Decapitation
ISIS members take particular pleasure in beheading Christians and other opponents. In Japan, it was considered an honor to die from a sword. If the Japanese wanted to disgrace the enemy, they brutally tortured him. Therefore, for those captured, dying by beheading was lucky. It was much worse to be subjected to the tortures listed above.
If ammunition ran out in battle, the Americans used a rifle with a bayonet, while the Japanese always carried a long blade and a long curved sword. Soldiers were lucky to die from decapitation and not from a blow to the shoulder or chest. If the enemy found himself on the ground, he was chopped to death, rather than his head being cut off.
5. Death by high tide
Since Japan and its surrounding islands are surrounded by ocean waters, this type of torture was common among the inhabitants. Drowning is a terrible type of death. Even worse was the expectation of imminent death from the tide within a few hours. Prisoners were often tortured for several days in order to learn military secrets. Some could not stand the torture, but there were also those who only gave their name, rank and serial number.
Prepared for such stubborn people special kind of death. The soldier was left on the shore, where he had to watch for several hours as the water came closer and closer. Then, the water covered the prisoner's head and, within a few minutes of coughing, filled the lungs, after which death occurred.
4. Impalement
Bamboo grows in hot tropical areas and grows noticeably faster than other plants, several centimeters per day. And when the devilish mind of man invented the most terrible way to die, it was impalement.
The victims were impaled on bamboo, which slowly grew into their bodies. The unfortunates suffered from inhuman pain when their muscles and organs were pierced by the plant. Death occurred as a result of organ damage or blood loss.
3. Cooking alive
Another activity of Unit 731 was exposing victims to small doses of electricity. With a small impact it caused a lot of pain. If it was prolonged, then the internal organs of the prisoners were boiled and burned. Interesting fact The thing about the intestines and gall bladder is that they do not have nerve endings.
Therefore, when exposed to them, the brain sends pain signals to other organs. It's like cooking the body from the inside. Imagine swallowing a hot piece of iron to understand what the unfortunate victims experienced. The pain will be felt throughout the body until the soul leaves it.
2. Forced labor and marches
Thousands of prisoners of war were sent to Japanese concentration camps, where they lived the life of slaves. The large number of prisoners was a serious problem for the army, since it was impossible to supply them with sufficient food and medicine. In concentration camps, prisoners were starved, beaten, and forced to work until they died.
The prisoners' lives meant nothing to the guards and officers watching over them. Moreover, if work force was needed on an island or another part of the country, the prisoners of war had to march hundreds of kilometers there in unbearable heat. Countless soldiers died along the way. Their bodies were thrown into ditches or left there.
1. Forced to kill comrades and allies
Most often, beatings of prisoners were used during interrogations. The documents state that at first the prisoner was spoken to in a friendly manner. Then, if the interrogating officer understood the futility of such a conversation, was bored or simply angry, then the prisoner of war was beaten with fists, sticks or other objects. The beating continued until the torturers got tired.
In order to make the interrogation more interesting, they brought in another prisoner and forced him to continue under pain of his own death by beheading. Often he had to beat a prisoner to death. Few things in war were as difficult for a soldier as causing suffering to a comrade. These stories filled the Allied troops with even greater determination in the fight against the Japanese.
A documentary film was made about the inhumane experiments of the Japanese army on people several years ago, in which historians, journalists and former members"Unit 731" told about what happened in Japan in the 30s and 40s of the last century.
It is well known that wars are a time when sometimes all the darkest and cruelest things that exist in human nature awaken in people. Reading the memoirs of eyewitnesses to the events of the Second World War, getting acquainted with the documents, you are simply amazed at human cruelty, which at that time, it seems, simply knew no bounds. And we are not talking about military operations, war is war. We are talking about torture and executions that were applied to prisoners of war and civilians.
Germans
It is well known that representatives of the Third Reich during the war years simply put the matter of extermination of people on stream. Mass executions and killings in gas chambers are striking in their callous approach and scale. However, in addition to these methods of murder, the Germans also used others.
In Russia, Belarus and Ukraine, the Germans practiced burning entire villages alive. There were cases when people who were still alive were thrown into pits and covered with earth.
But this pales in comparison with the cases when the Germans approached the task in a particularly “creative” way.
It is known that in the Treblinka concentration camp, two girls - members of the Resistance - were boiled alive in a barrel of water. At the front, the soldiers had fun tearing apart prisoners tied to tanks.
In France, the Germans used the guillotine en masse. It is known that more than 40 thousand people were beheaded using this device. Among others, the Russian princess Vera Obolenskaya, a member of the Resistance, was executed with the help of the guillotine.
At the Nuremberg trials, cases were made public in which the Germans sawed people with hand saws. This happened in the occupied territories of the USSR.
Even such a time-tested form of execution as hanging, the Germans approached “outside the box.” To prolong the torment of those executed, they were hung not on a rope, but on a metal string. The victim did not die immediately from a broken vertebrae, as with the usual method of execution, but suffered for a long time. Participants in the conspiracy against the Fuhrer were killed in this way in 1944.
Moroccans
One of the least known pages in the history of World War II in our country is the participation of the French expeditionary force, which recruited residents of Morocco - Berbers and representatives of other native tribes. They were called Moroccan Gumiers. The Gumiers fought against the Nazis, that is, they were on the side of the Allies who liberated Europe from the “brown plague.” But with his cruelty towards to the local population Moroccans, according to some estimates, surpassed even the Germans.
First of all, the Moroccans raped the inhabitants of the territories they captured. Of course, first of all, women of all ages suffered - from little girls to old women, but boys, teenagers and men who dared to resist them were also subjected to violence. As a rule, gang rape ended with the murder of the victim.
In addition, the Moroccans could mock the victims by gouging out their eyes, cutting off their ears and fingers, since such “trophies” increased the status of the warrior according to Berber ideas.
However, an explanation can be found for this behavior: these people lived in their Atlas Mountains in Africa practically at the level of the tribal system, were illiterate, and, finding themselves in the theater of military operations of the 20th century, transferred their essentially medieval ideas to it.
Japanese
While the behavior of the Moroccan Gumiers is understandable, it is extremely difficult to find a reasonable interpretation for the actions of the Japanese.
There are many memories of how the Japanese abused prisoners of war, representatives civilian population occupied territories, as well as over their own compatriots suspected of espionage.
One of the most popular punishments for spying was cutting off fingers, ears, or even feet. The amputation was performed without anesthesia. At the same time, careful care was taken to ensure that the person punished continuously felt pain during the procedure, but survived.
In the camps for prisoners of war of the Americans and the British, this type of execution for rebellion was practiced, such as burial alive. The convict was placed vertically in a hole and covered with a pile of stones or earth. The man suffocated and died slowly, in terrible pain.
The Japanese also used medieval execution by beheading. But if in the era of the samurai the head was cut off with one masterful blow, then in the 20th century there were not so many such masters of the blade. Inept executioners could strike the unfortunate man's neck many times before the head was separated from the neck. The suffering of the victim in this case is difficult to even imagine.
Another type of medieval execution that was used by the Japanese military was drowning in the waves. The convict is tied to a pole dug into the shore in the high tide zone. The waves slowly rose, the man choked and finally died painfully.
And finally, probably the most terrible method of execution, which came from antiquity - tearing apart with growing bamboo. As you know, this plant is the fastest growing in the world. It grows 10-15 centimeters per day. The man was chained to the ground, from which young bamboo shoots peeked out. Over the course of several days, the plants tore the sufferer's body apart. After the end of the war, it became known that during the Second World War the Japanese also used such a barbaric method of execution on prisoners of war.
Bamboo is one of the fastest growing plants on Earth. Some of its Chinese varieties can grow a full meter in a day. Some historians believe that the deadly bamboo torture was used not only by the ancient Chinese, but also by the Japanese military during World War II.
How it works?
1) Sprouts of living bamboo are sharpened with a knife to form sharp “spears”;
2) The victim is suspended horizontally, with his back or stomach, over a bed of young pointed bamboo;
3) Bamboo quickly grows high, pierces the skin of the martyr and grows through his abdominal cavity, the person dies for a very long time and painfully.
2. Iron Maiden
Like torture with bamboo, many researchers consider the “iron maiden” terrible legend. Perhaps these metal sarcophagi with sharp spikes inside only frightened the people under investigation, after which they confessed to anything. The "Iron Maiden" was invented at the end of the 18th century, i.e. already at the end of the Catholic Inquisition.
How it works?
1) The victim is stuffed into the sarcophagus and the door is closed;
2) The spikes driven into the inner walls of the “iron maiden” are quite short and do not pierce the victim, but only cause pain. The investigator, as a rule, receives confessions, which the arrested person only has to sign;
3) If the prisoner shows fortitude and continues to remain silent, long nails, knives and rapiers are pushed through special holes in the sarcophagus. The pain becomes simply unbearable;
4) The victim never admits to what he did, then she was locked in a sarcophagus for long time, where she died from loss of blood;
5) Some models of the “iron maiden” were provided with spikes at eye level in order to quickly poke them out.
3. Skafism
The name of this torture comes from the Greek “scaphium”, which means “trough”. Skafism was popular in ancient Persia. During the torture, the victim, most often a prisoner of war, was devoured alive by various insects and their larvae who were partial to human flesh and blood.
How it works?
1) The prisoner is placed in a shallow trough and wrapped in chains.
2) He is force-fed large quantities of milk and honey, which causes the victim to have profuse diarrhea, which attracts insects.
3) The prisoner, having shit himself and smeared with honey, is allowed to float in a trough in a swamp, where there are many hungry creatures.
4) The insects immediately begin their meal, with the living flesh of the martyr as the main course.
4. The Terrible Pear 
“The pear is lying there - you can’t eat it,” it is said about the medieval European weapon for “educating” blasphemers, liars, women who gave birth out of wedlock, and gay men. Depending on the crime, the torturer thrust the pear into the sinner's mouth, anus or vagina.
How it works?
1) A tool consisting of pointed pear-shaped leaf-shaped segments is inserted into the client’s desired body hole;
2) The executioner little by little turns the screw on the top of the pear, while the “leaves” segments bloom inside the martyr, causing hellish pain;
3) After the pear is completely opened, the offender receives internal injuries incompatible with life and dies in terrible agony, if he has not already fallen into unconsciousness.
5. Copper Bull 
The design of this death unit was developed by the ancient Greeks, or, to be more precise, by the coppersmith Perillus, who sold his terrible bull to the Sicilian tyrant Phalaris, who simply loved to torture and kill people in unusual ways.
A living person was pushed inside the copper statue through a special door.
So
Phalaris first tested the unit on its creator, the greedy Perilla. Subsequently, Phalaris himself was roasted in a bull.
How it works?
1) The victim is closed in a hollow copper statue of a bull;
2) A fire is lit under the bull’s belly;
3) The victim is fried alive, like a ham in a frying pan;
4) The structure of the bull is such that the cries of the martyr come from the mouth of the statue, like a bull’s roar;
5) Jewelry and amulets were made from the bones of the executed, which were sold at bazaars and were in great demand..
6. Torture by rats 
Torture by rats was very popular in ancient China. However, we will look at the rat punishment technique developed by 16th century Dutch Revolution leader Diedrick Sonoy.
How it works?
1) The stripped naked martyr is placed on a table and tied;
2) Large, heavy cages with hungry rats are placed on the prisoner’s stomach and chest. The bottom of the cells is opened using a special valve;
3) Hot coals are placed on top of the cages to stir up the rats;
4) Trying to escape the heat of hot coals, rats gnaw their way through the flesh of the victim.
7. Cradle of Judas 
The Judas Cradle was one of the most torturous torture machines in the arsenal of the Suprema - the Spanish Inquisition. Victims usually died from infection, as a result of the fact that the pointed seat of the torture machine was never disinfected. The Cradle of Judas, as an instrument of torture, was considered “loyal” because it did not break bones or tear ligaments.
How it works?
1) The victim, whose hands and feet are tied, is seated on the top of a pointed pyramid;
2) The top of the pyramid is thrust into the anus or vagina;
3) Using ropes, the victim is gradually lowered lower and lower;
4) The torture continues for several hours or even days until the victim dies from powerlessness and pain, or from blood loss due to rupture of soft tissues.
8. Trampling by elephants 
For several centuries, this execution was practiced in India and Indochina. An elephant is very easy to train and teaching it to trample a guilty victim with its huge feet is a matter of just a few days.
How it works?
1. The victim is tied to the floor;
2. A trained elephant is brought into the hall to crush the martyr’s head;
3. Sometimes before the “head test,” animals crush the victims’ arms and legs in order to amuse the audience.
9. Rack 
Probably the most famous and unrivaled death machine of its kind called the “rack”. It was first tested around 300 AD. on the Christian martyr Vincent of Zaragoza.
Anyone who survived the rack could no longer use their muscles and became a helpless vegetable.
How it works?
1. This instrument of torture is a special bed with rollers at both ends, around which ropes are wound to hold the victim’s wrists and ankles. As the rollers rotated, the ropes pulled in opposite directions, stretching the body;
2. Ligaments in the victim’s arms and legs are stretched and torn, bones pop out of their joints.
3. Another version of the rack was also used, called strappado: it consisted of 2 pillars dug into the ground and connected by a crossbar. The interrogated person's hands were tied behind his back and lifted by a rope tied to his hands. Sometimes a log or other weights were attached to his bound legs. At the same time, the arms of the person raised on the rack were turned back and often came out of their joints, so that the convict had to hang on his outstretched arms. They were on the rack from several minutes to an hour or more. This type of rack was used most often in Western Europe
4. In Russia, a suspect raised on the rack was beaten on the back with a whip and “put to the fire,” that is, burning brooms were passed over the body.
5. In some cases, the executioner broke the ribs of a man hanging on a rack with red-hot pincers.
10. Paraffin in the bladder
A savage form of torture, the exact use of which has not been established.
How it works?
1. Candle paraffin was rolled by hand into a thin sausage, which was inserted through the urethra;
2. Paraffin slipped into the bladder, where solid salts and other nasty things began to settle on it.
3. Soon the victim began to have kidney problems and died from acute renal failure. On average, death occurred within 3-4 days.
11. Shiri (camel cap)
A monstrous fate awaited those whom the Ruanzhuans (a union of nomadic Turkic-speaking peoples) took into slavery. They destroyed the slave's memory with a terrible torture - putting a shiri on the victim's head. Usually this fate befell young men captured in battle.
How it works?
1. First, the slaves' heads were shaved bald, and every hair was carefully scraped out at the root.
2. The executors slaughtered the camel and skinned its carcass, first of all, separating its heaviest, dense nuchal part.
3. Having divided the neck into pieces, they immediately pulled it in pairs over the shaved heads of the prisoners. These pieces stuck to the heads of the slaves like a plaster. This meant putting on the shiri.
4. After putting on the shiri, the neck of the doomed person was chained in a special wooden block so that the subject could not touch his head to the ground. In this form, they were taken away from crowded places so that no one would hear their heartbreaking screams, and they were thrown there in an open field, with their hands and feet tied, in the sun, without water and without food.
5. The torture lasted 5 days.
6. Only a few remained alive, and the rest died not from hunger or even from thirst, but from unbearable, inhuman torment caused by drying, shrinking rawhide camel skin on the head. Inexorably shrinking under the rays of the scorching sun, the width squeezed and squeezed the slave's shaved head like an iron hoop. Already on the second day, the shaved hair of the martyrs began to sprout. Coarse and straight Asian hair sometimes grew into the rawhide; in most cases, finding no way out, the hair curled and went back into the scalp, causing even greater suffering. Within a day the man lost his mind. Only on the fifth day did the Ruanzhuans come to check whether any of the prisoners had survived. If at least one of the tortured people was found alive, it was considered that the goal had been achieved. .
7. Anyone who underwent such a procedure either died, unable to withstand the torture, or lost his memory for life, turned into a mankurt - a slave who does not remember his past.
8. The skin of one camel was enough for five or six widths.
12. Implantation of metals
A very strange means of torture and execution was used in the Middle Ages.
How it works?
1. A deep incision was made on a person’s legs, where a piece of metal (iron, lead, etc.) was placed, after which the wound was stitched up.
2. Over time, the metal oxidized, poisoning the body and causing terrible pain.
3. Most often, the poor people tore the skin in the place where the metal was sewn up and died from blood loss.
13. Dividing a person into two parts
This terrible execution originated in Thailand. The most hardened criminals were subjected to it - mostly murderers.
How it works?
1. The accused is placed in a robe woven from vines and stabbed with sharp objects;
2. After this, his body is quickly cut into two parts, the upper half is immediately placed on a red-hot copper grate; This operation stops the bleeding and prolongs the life of most people.
A small addition: This torture is described in the book of the Marquis de Sade “Justine, or the successes of vice.” This is a small excerpt from a large piece of text where de Sade allegedly describes the torture of the peoples of the world. But why supposedly? According to many critics, the Marquis was very fond of lying. He had an extraordinary imagination and a couple of delusions, so this torture, like some others, could have been a figment of his imagination. But this field should not refer to Donatien Alphonse as Baron Munchausen. This torture, in my opinion, if it did not exist before, is quite realistic. If, of course, the person is pumped up with painkillers (opiates, alcohol, etc.) before this, so that he does not die before his body touches the bars.
14. Inflating with air through the anus
A terrible torture in which a person is pumped with air through the anus.
There is evidence that in Rus' even Peter the Great himself sinned with this.
Most often, thieves were executed this way.
How it works?
1. The victim was tied hand and foot.
2. Then they took cotton and stuffed it into the poor man’s ears, nose and mouth.
3. Bellows were inserted into his anus, with the help of which a huge amount of air was pumped into the person, as a result of which he became like a balloon.
3. After that, I plugged his anus with a piece of cotton.
4. Then they opened two veins above his eyebrows, from which all the blood flowed out under enormous pressure.
5. Sometimes tied up man They stood him naked on the roof of the palace and shot him with arrows until he died.
6. Until 1970, this method was often used in Jordanian prisons.
15. Polledro
Neapolitan executioners lovingly called this torture “polledro” - “foal” (polledro) and were proud that it was first used in their hometown. Although history has not preserved the name of its inventor, they said that he was an expert in horse breeding and came up with an unusual device to tame his horses.
Only a few decades later, lovers of making fun of people turned the horse breeder’s device into a real torture machine for people.
The machine was a wooden frame, similar to a ladder, the crossbars of which were very sharp corners, so that when a person is placed with his back on them, they cut into the body from the back of the head to the heels. The staircase ended with a huge wooden spoon, into which the head was placed, as if in a cap.
How it works?
1. Holes were drilled on both sides of the frame and in the “cap”, and ropes were threaded into each of them. The first of them was tightened on the forehead of the tortured, the last tied thumbs legs As a rule, there were thirteen ropes, but for those who were especially stubborn, the number was increased.
2. Using special devices, the ropes were pulled tighter and tighter - it seemed to the victims that, having crushed the muscles, they were digging into the bones.
16. Dead Man's Bed (modern China) 
The Chinese Communist Party uses the “dead man’s bed” torture mainly on those prisoners who try to protest against illegal imprisonment through a hunger strike. In most cases, these are prisoners of conscience, imprisoned for their beliefs.
How it works?
1. The arms and legs of a stripped prisoner are tied to the corners of a bed on which, instead of a mattress, there is a wooden board with a hole cut out. A bucket for excrement is placed under the hole. Often, a person’s body is tied tightly to the bed with ropes so that he cannot move at all. A person remains in this position continuously for several days to weeks.
2. In some prisons, such as Shenyang City No. 2 Prison and Jilin City Prison, police also place a hard object under the victim's back to intensify the suffering.
3. It also happens that the bed is placed vertically and the person hangs for 3-4 days, stretched out by his limbs.
4. Added to this torment is force feeding, which is carried out using a tube inserted through the nose into the esophagus, into which liquid food is poured.
5. This procedure is performed mainly by prisoners on the orders of the guards, and not by medical workers. They do this very rudely and unprofessionally, often causing serious damage to a person’s internal organs.
6. Those who have gone through this torture say that it causes displacement of the vertebrae, joints of the arms and legs, as well as numbness and blackening of the limbs, which often leads to disability.
17. Yoke (Modern China) 
One of medieval torture, used in modern Chinese prisons, is the wearing of a wooden collar. It is placed on a prisoner, causing him to be unable to walk or stand normally.
The clamp is a board from 50 to 80 cm in length, from 30 to 50 cm in width and 10 – 15 cm in thickness. In the middle of the clamp there are two holes for the legs.
The victim, who is wearing a collar, has difficulty moving, must crawl into bed and usually must sit or lie down, since the upright position causes pain and leads to injury to the legs. Without assistance, a person with a collar cannot go to eat or go to the toilet. When a person gets out of bed, the collar not only puts pressure on the legs and heels, causing pain, but its edge clings to the bed and prevents the person from returning to it. At night the prisoner is unable to turn around, and in winter time a short blanket does not cover your legs.
More worst form This torture is called “crawling with a wooden clamp.” The guards put a collar on the man and order him to crawl on the concrete floor. If he stops, he is hit on the back with a police baton. An hour later, his fingers, toenails and knees are bleeding profusely, while his back is covered in wounds from the blows.
18. Impalement 
A terrible, savage execution that came from the East.
The essence of this execution was that a person was laid on his stomach, one sat on him to prevent him from moving, the other held him by the neck. A stake was inserted into the person's anus, which was then driven in with a mallet; then they drove a stake into the ground. The weight of the body forced the stake to go deeper and deeper and finally it came out under the armpit or between the ribs.
19. Spanish water torture 
In order to the best way To carry out this torture procedure, the accused was placed on one of the types of racks or on a special large table with a rising middle part. After the victim's arms and legs were tied to the edges of the table, the executioner began work in one of several ways. One of these methods involved forcing the victim, using a funnel, to swallow a large number of water, then they hit the swollen and arched belly. Another form involved placing a cloth tube down the victim's throat through which water was slowly poured, causing the victim to swell and suffocate. If this was not enough, the tube was pulled out, causing internal damage, and then inserted again and the process repeated. Sometimes cold water torture was used. In this case, the accused lay naked on a table under a stream of ice water for hours. It is interesting to note that this type of torture was considered light, and the court accepted confessions obtained in this way as voluntary and given by the defendant without the use of torture. Most often, these tortures were used by the Spanish Inquisition in order to extract confessions from heretics and witches.
20. Chinese water torture
They sat a man in a very cold room, tied him so that he could not move his head, and in complete darkness cold water was very slowly dripped onto his forehead. After a few days the person froze or went crazy.
21. Spanish armchair 
This instrument of torture was widely used by the executioners of the Spanish Inquisition and was a chair made of iron, on which the prisoner was seated, and his legs were placed in stocks attached to the legs of the chair. When he found himself in such a completely helpless position, a brazier was placed under his feet; with hot coals, so that the legs began to slowly fry, and in order to prolong the suffering of the poor fellow, the legs were poured with oil from time to time.
Another version of the Spanish chair was often used, which was a metal throne to which the victim was tied and a fire was lit under the seat, roasting the buttocks. The famous poisoner La Voisin was tortured on such a chair during the famous Poisoning Case in France.
22. GRIDIRON (Grid for torture by fire) 
Torture of Saint Lawrence on the gridiron.
This type of torture is often mentioned in the lives of saints - real and fictitious, but there is no evidence that the gridiron “survived” until the Middle Ages and had even a small circulation in Europe. It is usually described as ordinary metal grill 6 feet long and two and a half feet wide, mounted horizontally on legs to allow a fire to be built underneath.
Sometimes the gridiron was made in the form of a rack in order to be able to resort to combined torture.
Saint Lawrence was martyred on a similar grid.
This torture was used very rarely. Firstly, it was quite easy to kill the person being interrogated, and secondly, there were a lot of simpler, but no less cruel tortures.
23. Pectoral 
In ancient times, a pectoral was a female breast decoration in the form of a pair of carved gold or silver bowls, often sprinkled with precious stones. It was worn like a modern bra and secured with chains.
In a mocking analogy with this decoration, the savage instrument of torture used by the Venetian Inquisition was named.
In 1985, the pectoral was heated red-hot and, taking it with tongs, they put it on the tortured woman’s chest and held it until she confessed. If the accused persisted, the executioners heated up the pectoral again cooled by the living body and continued the interrogation.
Very often, after this barbaric torture, charred, torn holes were left in place of the woman’s breasts.
24. Tickle torture 
This seemingly harmless effect was a terrible torture. With prolonged tickling, a person's nerve conduction increased so much that even the lightest touch initially caused twitching, laughter, and then turned into terrible pain. If such torture was continued for quite a long time, then after a while spasms of the respiratory muscles occurred and, in the end, the tortured person died from suffocation.
In the simplest version of torture, the interrogated person was tickled in sensitive areas either simply with their hands, or with hair brushes or brushes. Stiff bird feathers were popular. Usually they tickled under the armpits, heels, nipples, inguinal folds, genitals, and women also under the breasts.
In addition, torture was often carried out using animals that licked some tasty substance from the heels of the interrogated person. The goat was very often used, since its very hard tongue, adapted for eating grass, caused very strong irritation.
There was also a type of tickling torture using a beetle, most common in India. With it, a small bug was placed on the head of a man's penis or on a woman's nipple and covered with half a nut shell. After some time, the tickling caused by the movement of insect legs on a living body became so unbearable that the interrogated person confessed to anything
25. Crocodile 
These tubular metal crocodile pliers were red-hot and used to tear the penis of the person being tortured. First, with a few caressing movements (often made by women), or with a tight bandage, a persistent, hard erection was achieved and then the torture began
26. Tooth crusher 
These serrated iron tongs were used to slowly crush the testicles of the interrogated person.
Something similar was widely used in Stalinist and fascist prisons.
27. Creepy tradition. 
Actually, this is not torture, but an African ritual, but, in my opinion, it is very cruel. Girls aged 3-6 years old simply had their external genitalia scraped out without anesthesia.
Thus, the girl did not lose the ability to have children, but was forever deprived of the opportunity to experience sexual desire and pleasure. This ritual is done “for the benefit” of women, so that they will never be tempted to cheat on their husbands
28. Bloody Eagle 
One of the most ancient tortures, during which the victim was tied face down and his back was opened, his ribs were broken off at the spine and spread apart like wings. Scandinavian legends claim that during such an execution, the wounds of the victim were sprinkled with salt.
Many historians claim that this torture was used by pagans against Christians, others are sure that spouses caught in treason were punished in this way, and still others claim that the bloody eagle is just a terrible legend. 
japanese thriller violence cinema
Before starting an overview of the topic of cruelty in Japanese cinema, in my opinion, it is worth paying attention to how cruelty and violence manifested itself in Japan in real life, and whether we can say that cruelty is part of the Japanese character. It is worth noting that we can see manifestations of cruelty in different periods Japanese history - from antiquity to the present day. Cruelty manifested itself in different areas Japanese life.
The things that will be described above, such as the behavior of samurai, torture, executions, and other manifestations of violence, have been part of the daily life of the Japanese for a long time. All this is reflected in the art of cinema, as it often depicts the realities of society.
A striking example of cruelty is the behavior of samurai. A samurai could kill absolutely any person who, as it seemed to the samurai, showed disrespect towards him or made any mistake in his actions. Situations were absolutely normal when samurai cut off ordinary people heads. Their barbaric cruelty was not condemned or punished. During hostilities, samurai resorted to various tortures, mockery and humiliation of the enemy. Rape and murder of women was considered an absolutely common practice. For samurai, this was not something too cruel and immoral, it was one of the ways to humiliate the enemy.
Also a striking example of cruelty can be the torture of the Edo era (1603 - 1868). In medieval Japan, torture was common as punishment or interrogation of a prisoner. They were quite common among residents and were not perceived by the Japanese as a sign of cruelty. Most often, torture was used to extract a confession from a person for committing a crime. Before 1742 in Japan there were too brutal torture, such as tearing out nostrils, cutting off fingers, and plunging limbs into boiling oil. But in 1742, the “Code of One Hundred Articles” was adopted, which abolished such cruel measures. After this, only four types of torture remained: Prasol A.F. From Edo to Tokyo and back. - M.: Astrel, 2012. - 333.. The easiest thing was beating with sticks. The victim was stripped to the waist, put on his knees and began to beat her on the shoulders and back. A doctor was present in the room during this procedure. Torture was applied to the prisoner until he told the truth or confessed to what he had done. Ibid. P. 333..
Pressure torture was also used. Stone slabs were placed on the victim’s lap; each slab weighed 49 kilograms. A case is described when a prisoner withstood the pressure of 10 slabs - it is believed that this is the maximum weight that a prisoner could withstand. Ibid. P. 333..
Torture by tying with rope was considered the third most cruel. The defendant was twisted into the “shrimp” position and left there for approximately 3-4 hours.
And the last type of torture is hanging from a rope. This technique was used extremely rarely. Ibid. pp. 334 - 335. .
I would also like to say a few words regarding the death penalty. There were six main types of execution, which depended on the severity of the crime committed. Types of death penalty:
cutting off the head when the body was handed over to relatives;
cutting off the head when the body was not handed over to relatives;
beheading and public display;
burning at the stake;
execution on the cross;
cutting off the head with a bamboo saw and public demonstration 5 Prasol A.F. From Edo to Tokyo and back. - M.: Astrel, 2012. - 340 - 341. .
It is worth noting that the cruelty of Japanese torture was noted in his diaries by Vasily Golovnin: “... in the Japanese criminal law it is commanded, in the event of denial of the accused, to use the most terrible tortures that evil could invent in barbaric times...” Golovnin V. M. Notes of a fleet captain Golovnin about his adventures in captivity of the Japanese. M.: Zakharov, 2004.. In addition to Golovnin, the cruelty of the Japanese towards the guilty was also noted by the Americans, who participated in the forced opening of Japan in the second half of the 20th century.
In 1893, Sakuma Osahiro, a representative of a family of city government employees, compiled a treatise called “A True Description of the Practice of Torture,” which contained a description of the practice of torturing a prisoner. In the treatise, the author described the main tortures before the Edo era - torture by water, fire, torture in the “water prison” and torture of the “wooden horse”. The author of the treatise considered the abandonment of these methods and the transition to new types of torture, which we described earlier, as a real evolution. Important information for us is the role that the author of the treatise assigns to torture. Torture was not considered punishment or revenge for a crime committed. Torture was one part of the investigation of the crime. Torture was intended to bring the prisoner to repentance and was not considered a barbaric practice. This was one of the parts trial Sakuma Osahiro. A true account of the practice of torture. [ Electronic resource]. - Access mode: http://www.vostlit.info/Texts/Dokumenty/Japan/XIX/1880-1900/Sakuma_Osahiro/frametext.htm.
Cruelty was also used against people who studied various crafts and arts. The teacher could punish the student in the most cruel way, but this was done only for the benefit of the student. For example, a variety of tortures could be applied to a guilty geisha, the main thing was not to cause any harm to her face and not to disfigure the girl.
Of course, the most indicative bloody period of Japanese cruelty was the first half of the 20th century, when the country was active military activities. Cruelty was shown both to enemies and to loved ones. For example, during the Russo-Japanese War (1904-1905), some soldiers killed their children and wives so as not to condemn them to starvation. But it is worth noting that the Japanese did not consider this a manifestation of cruelty, but on the contrary, it was a manifestation of nobility and devotion to their emperor.
Japanese soldiers showed incredible cruelty towards their enemies. The numbers speak for themselves: during the operation in Nanjing, according to average estimates, about 300,000 people died, during the Zhejiang-Jiangxi operation, 250,000 people died, in addition Japanese soldiers killed about 100,000 Filipinos and 250,000 Burmese. It is believed that Japanese wartime soldiers had a "three to three clear" policy, namely "burn the clear", "kill all the clear", "rob the clear". And looking at what the Japanese soldiers did, it becomes clear that the Japanese soldiers observed these slogans very clearly.
The complete destruction of entire cities and villages was absolutely normal for Japanese soldiers. Japanese researcher Teruyuki Hara wrote the following about the intervention in Siberia: “Of all cases “ complete elimination The burning of the village of Ivanovka was the largest in scale and the most cruel.”
In 1937, an event occurred that became known as the Nanjing Massacre. It all started with the Japanese bayoneting about 20 thousand young men of military age so that they would not be able to fight against Japan in the future. The Japanese did not spare the elderly, children or women. They were not just killed, they were mocked in the dirtiest ways. Women were subjected to brutal violence, people's eyes and other organs were torn out. Eyewitnesses say that Japanese soldiers raped all the women in a row: both very young girls and old women. The weapons that the soldiers had were practically not used to kill victims, since other, bloodier types of murder were used Terentyev N. The flashpoint of the war in the Far East. [Electronic resource]. - Access mode:
http://militera.lib.ru/science/terentiev_n/05.html.
The Japanese also showed toughness in Manila. Many people were shot, some were burned alive after being doused with gasoline.
The soldiers took photographs with their victims “as a souvenir.” The faces of the soldiers in these photographs do not express an iota of remorse.
During the wars, the Japanese actively created and used “comfort stations” - places where Japanese soldiers “relaxed” with women. It is estimated that about 300,000 women passed through the “comfort stations,” many of whom were under 18 years old. But, as Japanese scientists note, no one was forced into prostitution; the girls went to work at the comfort station only of their own free will.
It is also worth noting the special unit for the development of bacteriological weapons or detachment 731. Bacteria of plague, typhoid, dysentery and other deadly diseases were tested on civilians. Japanese scientists used the term “logs” to refer to their experimental subjects. Scientists conducted experiments not only for scientific purposes, but also for fun. The extent of the atrocity cannot be determined. But you can also look at this from the other side, many scientists say that the Japanese committed all these atrocities for the benefit of their own compatriots. They didn't want their soldiers to get sick and were looking for treatment options for various diseases.
The cruelty of the soldiers can be explained by one more fact. At that time, the rules within the Japanese army were very harsh. For any mistake, a soldier could be punished. Most often these were blows or slaps, but sometimes the punishment could be more severe. During the exercises, cruelty and humiliation also reigned in the army. Young soldiers were “cannon fodder” for the elite. Naturally, the young officers could only take out their accumulated aggression on the enemy. This, in fact, was one of the tasks of such a cruel upbringing of Seiichi Morimura. Devil's kitchen. - M.: Progress, 1983. .
Do not forget about the factor of devotion to the emperor. In order to show their loyalty to the emperor, Japanese soldiers went to great lengths. Shock troops special attacks or kamikazes went to certain death for the sake of the emperor.
If we talk about modernity, then cruelty manifests itself even today. Of course, these are not the same atrocities that occurred in medieval Japan or during World War II. But sometimes it is very strange to see that one of the most developed countries in the world shows such strange impulses of cruelty towards its citizens.
A striking example is modern entertainment programs. In them, people are forced to swim in boiling water and perform various tasks that are harmful to health. On many TV shows you can see people breaking their limbs and, what’s strange, such TV shows bring great pleasure to the audience. During these programs we can hear the cheerful laughter of the audience. A favorite Japanese joke is the falling floor - when a person steps on it, the floor collapses and the person falls into boiling water. The Japanese like to use such jokes during various kinds of awards. A well-known test is when people come for an interview and after a while a “drowned boy” approaches them in silence. Employers thus study the applicant's reaction to the workplace.
Let's not forget about a serious problem in the lives of Japanese schoolchildren. It has long been known that in Japanese system education exists school bullying or ijime- bullying, harassment, bullying. Some schoolchildren are driven to suicide by bullying from peers. Ijime aimed at psychological suppression of the individual. For bullying, they usually choose a child who is different from others in some way. Moreover, children of fairly successful parents participate in bullying. Year after year, the number of bullying of schoolchildren continues to grow, and Nurutdinova A.R. has not yet been very successful in solving this problem. On the other side " Japanese miracle", or "Ijime": social disease Japanese life and education system. - M.: 2012. .
Lately The cruelty of the Japanese towards dolphins is increasingly discussed in the world. Dolphin hunting season is open in the country from September to April, and the Japanese kill a huge number of fish during this time. The world community is outraged by the behavior of the Japanese. But it is worth noting that for the Japanese this is long tradition, which has become part of everyday life, and not a manifestation of cruelty towards animals.
Thus, we see that cruelty has been present in the life of the Japanese since ancient times, and often what was considered cruel and immoral for a Westerner was not such for the Japanese. Therefore, we can say that Japanese and Western people have different concepts and attitudes towards cruelty.
It is also worth noting the fundamental differences in the perception of cruelty between the Japanese and Westerners. For the Japanese, the manifestation of cruelty, as we have already mentioned, was quite common, so they treated it with calm. In addition, people from childhood were inculcated with the awareness that there may be a need to sacrifice oneself for the sake of others. This also influenced a rather calm perception of death. Unlike Western people, death for the Japanese was not something scary and terrible, it was a transition to a new stage and therefore was perceived with virtually no fear. Apparently this is why Japanese directors depict scenes of cruelty in their works, because they do not see anything terrible in them. And the Japanese viewer also treats scenes of violence in films quite calmly.
For our work, the analysis of the manifestation of cruelty is important because it shows the difference in the concept of cruelty among Westerners and among the Japanese. We saw that often what seems cruel to Westerners seems completely normal to the Japanese. In addition, the historical events that we described above served as material for the works of many directors.