Photo/Illutration A soldier’s helmet, a remnant of the Pacific War, is seen on the island of Guadalcanal. (Asahi Shimbun file photo)

At the height of the Pacific War, a strange theory about how long emaciated soldiers would live gained currency among starving Japanese troops fighting U.S. forces on the island of Guadalcanal.

Soldiers who could manage to stand on their own two feet would live for 30 more days, it said. Those who could not stand but could sit up would have three more weeks. The men who urinated while lying down would die in three days and those who could no longer talk would succumb in two, according to the theory.

Predictions based on this unscientific and inhumane theory always proved accurate, Yasuo Obi, a second lieutenant of the Imperial Japanese Army who survived the battle, says in his memoir titled, “Ningen no Genkai” (human limits).

One notable fact about the Imperial Japanese Army’s combat in southern fronts, including the grueling battle on Guadalcanal, which was called “Gato” (starvation island), is the large numbers of deaths from starvation or diseases caused by hunger.

Reckless campaigns that lacked viable plans to secure adequate food and other vital supplies for operations were pushed under fanatical slogans stressing a "bite the bullet spirit."

The most ghastly example was the Battle of Imphal. Japanese troops attempted to seize Imphal in India by advancing from Burma (now Myanmar). The campaign required Japanese troops to cross a large river and a mountain range.

They were told to get food by capturing enemy food stocks when they ran out of supplies. Some senior officers were dismissed after expressing their opposition to the reckless campaign to the commander.

After the battle began, two division commanders were discharged over slower progress in the offensive than planned. One division commander decided on his own to retreat as he grew infuriated about receiving no food supplies, “not even a grain of rice,” according to a book by Japanese historian Akira Fujiwara on the topic of starvation among Japanese soldiers titled “Uejini shita eireitachi” (Japanese soldiers who died of starvation).

Even after the campaign was aborted, many of the Japanese soldiers collapsed one after another as they retreated. The route of their retreat later came to be known by the distressing name of “hakkotsu kaido” (skeleton highway).

Japan’s decision to start a war with the United States and Britain was a reckless gamble driven by foolish disregard for differences in national power.

Many campaigns staged by Japan during the war were also marked by various kinds of foolhardiness. Japanese wartime leaders never made a cool-headed decision to stop the war along the way and start peace negotiations.

--The Asahi Shimbun, Aug. 15

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Vox Populi, Vox Dei is a popular daily column that takes up a wide range of topics, including culture, arts and social trends and developments. Written by veteran Asahi Shimbun writers, the column provides useful perspectives on and insights into contemporary Japan and its culture.

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