We need not question the success of the country of Japan over the years and decades that have passed. Despite being a small country, they have managed to surmount others through their handwork, heart, and passion. They are globally competitive and respected in many fields such as business, medicine, and sports. It is now generally recognized that Japan has been much the most successful of the countries outside Europe and North America in achieving modernization. (w. Beasley)
Historically, military was on of the key factors that brought them success. They had the tactics and weaponry that enabled them to bring down Pearl Harbor. But more importantly than that, (and what could possibly be the stem of their military success) were the beliefs and codes they applied to war. One of these codes was the Bushido, developed by the ancient Japanese samurai.
The word Bushido literally means Military-Knights-Ways, the ways which fighting nobles should observe in their daily life as well as in their vocation (I. Nitobe). The lines “observed in their daily life as well in their vocation” cannot be overemphasized enough. Through Bushido, the Japanese believed that military was something deeper than the usual fighting. It was more of a way of application for them in their lives, a way that they should conduct their lives. Bushido was a law written in their hearts, they need not write it but rather passed it down from generation to generation by word of mouth. It kept them socially aloof from the populace, a moral standard and guided them by their example (I. Nitobe). Therefore we can say that the Japanese got most of their inspiration and molded character from the Bushido, unlike any other countries that just considered their military as just that and nothing more. Inspiring it indeed is but it also raises a question of how this Bushido influenced the Japanese in the way they treated the people they conquered in the early years.
If we were to