Actually, Japanese troops on occasion feigned surrender to lure Americans into traps. Taking a Japanese prisoner was fraught with danger for Americans. Towards the end of the War, more Japanese did want to surrender, but that wasn’t always available, either because of decisions by their officers, or distrust by the Americans.
A white flag does not necessarily mean surrender. In the instance cited, the individual with the white flag was offering the enemy the opportunity to surrender. It is simply a signal asking for a temporary cease fire. The Japanese, ultimately did surrender, big time. Japanese troops rarely surrendered individually, but it was not never.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kazuo_Sakamaki
My dad was a Marine on Okinawa. He once told me that one thing every Marine understood was Japanese never surrender.
I received this a while back... the marine makes a valid argument.
“The hell you can’t, because we did it. These Muslims are no different than the [Imperial] Japanese. The Japs had their suicide bombers too. And we stopped them. What it takes is the resolve and will to use a level of brutality and violence that your generations can’t stomach. And until you can, this s*** won’t stop.
It took us on the beaches with bullets, clearing out caves with flame throwers, and men like LeMay burning down their cities, killing people by the tens of thousands. And then it took two atom bombs on top of it! Plus, we had to bomb the s*** out of German cities to get them to quit fighting. But, if that was what it took to win, we were willing to do it.
Until you are willing to do the same...well I hope you enjoy this s***, because it ain’t going to stop!
A few years ago I spoke to a veteran of the Pacific War and asked about how it was that the Japanese never surrendered. “Oh, lots of them wanted to surrender as much as anyone, but we shot them whenever we could” he told me.
“None But The Brave” (1965)