Natalie Johnson

Professor Wilson
His 396
November 4, 2013
Suicide Mission
Throughout history, when men were called to war they were prideful and ready to
commit their lives. During WWII, Japanese men and Koreans were taught to kill the savages
and to defend their Emperor and their country. Before they would allow the enemy to take them
hostage they would, as Westerners would call it, commit suicide or banzai attacks. In the book,
The Breaking Jewel by Makoto Oda, many Japanese soldiers were struggling with the idea of
gyokusai (the honorable act of suicide). The movie, Letters from Iwo Jima portrays similarities
with that of the book. Some men were willing to give their lives or commit gyokusai and some
men wanted to go back home to their families. Other soldiers whom were not as committed to
the war, felt they were fighting a losing battle. Both of these works focus on the act of gyokusai
and how Japanese soldiers mentality differed and changed during the two battles.
In The Breaking Jewel, set in 1944 in Peleliu, Japanese soldiers were influenced to dig
entrenchments for them to fight in and to protect themselves. One of the characters, Corporal
Kon was of Korean descent and showed more patriotism for Japan than some of his fellow
Japanese soldiers. He wanted victory over the Americans and through much of the book it
appeared he talked himself into believing he would do anything to stay alive. Many felt,
however, like they were sent to dig graves or be a construction worker. They set up traps,
pillboxes, and tunnels from the shoreline to the caves. They were determined to believe that
these activities would bring them victory, despite their negative feelings.
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In the movie, Letters from Iwo Jima, a year after Peleliu, Japanese soldiers were digging
and working to develop areas to entrap the Americans. Like their counterparts in Peleliu, they
were struggling to work with the conditions of the island. They also felt as if they were putting
their efforts into a fight that was ultimately going to end in their demise. The issue is that some
people valued their life and their family more than the tradition of gyokusai. Saigo makes it
through the entire battle without being killed and finds that most Americans did not want to be in
war either. The American from Oklahoma had a letter, which was read by the Japanese Olympic
rider gave the remaining soldiers a better perspective on what they thought about Americans and
their role in the war. They emotionally connected with the normalcy of his life. After losing
many of his fellow soldiers, Saigo begun to see that he did not want to give his life recklessly.
Seeing those soldiers use grenades to take their lifes made Saigo want to fight for his.
Saigo and Kon had much in common. They were not going to give up so easily despite
how close the Americans got, even if that meant that they would surrender to them. Kon wanted
to prove that despite being Korean, he was able to fight just as well and if not better than most
Japanese. At the end of the book, Kon told Nakamura the new message from headquarters, and
he mentioned that because he Kon was Korean he may have a chance in surrendering to the
Americans, but because he was Japanese and because he believed in fighting to the end, he was
not willing to surrender to the Americans even if he was wounded. Nakamura considered using
his last grenade on himself before turning himself into the Americans. In Letters from Iwo
Jima, they received a message telling them that they had done everything they could and no
more provisions or reinforcements would be sent. They knew that they were going to lose. In
fact, in both works there was a message from headquarters. This made some soldiers lose faith in
winning this battle. This led to the act of gyokusai, and both leaders were not willing to give up.
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Nakamura and Kuribayashi showed traditional Japanese leadership and worked to the end to face
the final battle.
It was tradition for Japanese to serve their Emperor at any costs. Kon fought for a
country, whose traditions he was not familiar with. It was apparent that Japans army was never
strong enough to fight against America; the garrison commander spoke to those surrounding
Sergeant Nakamura and told them he knew their efforts were weakening. He proceeds to say, A
fight to the death does not mean being in a hurry to commit gyokusai, a gyokusai like dying a
dogs death (16). Oda, being an antiwar activist portrays a great sense of the Japanese tradition
but in a different way. He still shows honor to the act but rather he also shows how some men
were willing to go on fighting instead of taking their life. The act of gyokusai did not have to
mean that you just gave up and killed yourself, instead you honorably continued fighting no
matter what.
In both the movie and the book, Japanese soldiers were either traditional with their views
on honor (killing themselves in banzai attacks) or were willing to surrender to the Americans
rather than dealing with the harshness of the war. Originally Kon wanted to prove himself and
eventually he realized that the war was not worth fighting for since headquarters knew that their
efforts were not going to be substantial anyways, he gave into the thought of surrendering to the
Americans. As for Saigo, he never wanted to go to war. He made it through the war with the
mentality to survive no matter what but he never showed any favoritism towards the act of
gyokusai. At the end of the movie, Saigo was taken to the POW camp and it is clear that he was
happy to be alive despite being taken by the Americans.
Both works offer an insight into the traditional act of gyokusai, Nakamura was a talented
soldier that was trained to fight for his country and emperor. Despite his struggle with whether or
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not he should give his life, he proved himself in the end. Most of the soldiers in both the movie
and the book, were struggling with this. Regarldess of their decisions, they still fought honorably
in battle. Moda Ota and Clint Eastwood portray soldiers that were fighting the internal battle of
participating in gyokusai. Both battles were similar, and the way soldiers acted were similar.