I think their Samurai history was helpful in some ways, but very destructive in others.
They suffered horrible losses in Burma and New Guinea and Guadalcanal.
They were more concerned with not showing fear than they were with winning.
Oh hell yeah. Burma and New Guinea were awful for all the combatants but especially for the Japanese. Malaria, dysentery ravaged both the allies and the Japs. The difference was our medical corps could better handle it. We had quinine and morphine. The Japanese didn’t. We could evacuate our wounded. Theirs got a hand grenade to end their misery.