We've all heard these stories before about Japanese soldiers holding out for years.

[Stanley Doble]

I'm no expert but it seems to be mainly a Japanese military or samurai philosophy. Although other Asian people take a long view of things. You can buy 100 year old eggs in China. In America we prefer fast food.

 

[Treetopflyer]

That's the Eastern way of war. They take the long drawn out approach to warfare. The Western way of war is "We'll be home by Christmas."

 

[Stanley Doble]

We'll be home by Christmas... 10 or 20 years later.

Pearl Harbor, one day and go home.

 

[alsendk]

Married to a Chinese woman whose family for generations have been officers in the chinese army and airforce, I tend to believe, through long and many conversations with them, that the dicipline is just as strong as the japanese forces...with the exception however, that they do not regard the chinese government/president with the same god feared respect as the japanese had for their imperor, so I doubt them to be quite as fanatic as the japanese forces was, during ww2. But they are proud of being part of one of the strongest forces in the world. However, - the chinese military, that have been established, since the death of Mao, only have the one purpose,- to protect the soil of China, and never to attack any country outside their domestic borderlines. Their whole defense system is based on these principles. However it is also very clear to me, that there is a certain sensitivity towards Japan, even so many years after the atrocities, that took place in China, especially in Nanjing.

These considerations are solely my own reflections after some very fine and noble discussions with military friends and family members, and makes me, by no means an expert in these matters...and btw. politics and warfare are so closely connected, - so perhaps I am not to discuss this at all here at TFL ?