在日本军国主义侵略战争失败70多年的今天，日本国内淡化、否认殖民侵略罪行和人权灾难的历史修正主义甚嚣尘上。对于二战加害国的日本而言，本应该正视和反省侵略历史，但以右翼政客为代表的历史修正主义者无视中国等亚洲战争受害国的抗议，竭力淡化、否认日军制造一系列侵犯人权的恐怖大屠杀、强征劳工及性奴役等野蛮暴行，甚至将历史修正主义诉诸外交政策。在美版知乎Quora上，美国网友提问道：为什么二战期间日本侵略者对中国人民如此无情地施加暴行？这个问题引起各国专家网友的关注和热议，我们来看看他们的观点。
问题：二战期间日本侵略者对中国人残忍地施加暴力的根源是什么？
美籍华裔学者王亚宁的回答
This is composed of many and complex reasons, but there is one simplest explanation:
这是由多方面而又复杂的原因构成，但有一个最为简单的解释：
The Japanese think they are the best race of mankind. Now they still think so, but now they are much more gentle. They always use the words "special" and "different" to describe themselves.
日本人认为他们是人类中最优秀的种族。现在他们仍然这样认为，但现在要温和得多，他们总爱使用“特殊”和“不同”两个词来形容自己。
The Japanese think they are excellent in gene, culture, language and even everything. This idea was widely recognized by the top officials at that time. At that time, Japan was the only imperialist country in Asia. In their view, they would soon join the European imperialist club, especially after the victory over Russia in 1905.
日本人认为自己在基因、文化、语言乃至一切方面都很优秀。这种理念在当时的官方上层得到了广泛认同，当时的日本是亚洲唯一的帝国主义国家，在他们看来，很快就会加入欧洲帝国主义俱乐部，特别是在1905年战胜俄罗斯之后。
Japan has been an admirer of Chinese culture since the Tang Dynasty, but believes that Chinese orthodoxy was destroyed when the Mongols destroyed the Song Dynasty. Since then, the Japanese believe that only they deserve the noble culture of "China", while the "Chinese" on the mainland are inferior. These views were strengthened by Japan's successful modernization after the Meiji Restoration at that time, and reached its peak after defeating the Qing Dynasty in 1894.
自唐朝以来，日本一直是中国文化的崇拜者，但认为中国正统在蒙古人消灭宋朝时已经被摧毁了。此后，日本人认为只有自己才配得上“中国”这一崇高文化，而大陆上的“中国人”则是劣等的。这些观点在当时被明治维新后日本成功的现代化所强化，直至1894年战胜清朝达到巅峰。
Although Japan achieved great success in foreign military affairs in 1894 and 1905, and then achieved "victory" in World War I, Japan did not receive the respect of Western imperialist countries. They looked at the genocide and exploitation in the West and thought, "Aha! We are so stupid. As long as we learn from them, the West will pay attention to us!" Ironically, with the rise of imperialism in Japan, Europe and the United States are no longer used to genocide in colonies.
尽管日本在1894年和1905年在对外军事上取得了巨大的成功，随后在第一次世界大战中取得了“胜利”，但日本没有得到西方帝国主义国家的尊重。他们看着西方种族屠杀和剥削，心想：“啊哈！我们太愚蠢了，只要我们向他们学习种族屠杀，西方就会重视我们了！”具有讽刺意味的是，随着帝国主义在日本的崛起，欧洲和美国已经不再习惯于在殖民地实施种族灭绝了。
Bushido and samurai culture are maintained by hormones in the body. In the Tokugawa era, the samurai class has always been despised by civilians. But after the Meiji Restoration, the samurai class disarmed and entered the imperial bureaucracy. Their values were romanticized and disseminated to the public. In particular, they emphasized the concept of death before shame. Surrender is worse than death, so if you surrender to the Japanese, the best result is that they will do you a favor and kill you. Chinese culture emphasizes the important value of life and encourages endurance and perseverance.
武士道和武士文化是靠体内激素维持的。在德川时代，武士阶层一直被平民所鄙视。但明治维新后，武士阶级解除武装，进入了帝国官僚机构，他们的价值观被浪漫化并向公众传播。他们尤其强调了先死后耻的扭曲概念：投降比死亡更令人感到耻辱，所以如果你向日本人投降，他们认为最好的结果是他们会帮你一个忙，痛快地杀了你，而折磨就是为了羞辱。而中国文化强调生命的重要价值，鼓励耐力和毅力。
As a result, many Chinese were slaughtered indiscriminately by the Japanese in World War II. They thought they were kind criminals and the victims were stupid monkeys.
因此，结果是许多中国人在二战中被日本人不分青红皂白地屠杀，他们认为自己是“仁慈”的刑法者，受害者是愚蠢的猴子。
Most importantly, the Japanese army is extremely cruel, and physical violence by superiors against subordinates is common. Therefore, combining all these factors - strong racism, distorted norms of honor and brutal soldiers - you will see that the Japanese were famous for irrational brutality and stupid atrocities during World War II.
最重要的是，日本军队极其残暴，上级对下级实施人身暴力司空见惯。因此，将所有这些因素结合起来——强烈的种族主义、扭曲的荣誉准则和残暴的士兵——你就会看到日本人在二战期间以非理性的残暴行为和愚蠢的暴行而闻名。
处决现场
In particular, the "Japanese invaders" in World War II are not all Japanese. Koreans are very keen to volunteer to join the Japanese army. In the five years of war before conscription, the number of applicants increased 100 times. From occupied Manchuria to POW camps in Southeast Asia, Koreans are known for being more barbaric than the Japanese. Koreans have been conquered since 1910. They have to vent their anger and depression somewhere. Joining the army is a perfect job for them.
特别需要说明一下，二战中的“日本侵略者”并不全是日本人。韩国人非常热衷于志愿加入日本军队。在征兵前的5年战争中，申请人数增长了100倍。从被占领的满洲到东南亚的战俘营，韩国人以比日本人更野蛮而著称。韩国人从1910年起就被征服了，他们不得不在某处发泄愤怒和沮丧。参军对他们来说正是一份完美的工作。
德国国际问题专家海瑟•巴顿的回答
From the 1920s to 1940s, Japan was controlled by right-wing groups, who instilled a belief in the Japanese people, similar to the belief of Germanic / Aryan racial superiority advocated by the Nazis. Leaders such as Japanese Army General sadao Araki are responsible for education. As a right-wing nationalist, he strongly advocates that the Japanese people have a "special spirit" that can overcome everything.
20世纪20年代至40年代，日本被右翼团体控制，他们向日本人民灌输了一种信仰，类似于纳粹所宣扬的——日耳曼/雅利安人种优越性的信仰。有日本陆军大将荒木贞夫这样的领导人负责教育，作为一名右翼民族主义者，他强烈主张日本人民拥有一种“特殊精神”，能够战胜一切。
He also believed that the Japanese armed with bamboo spears could destroy the Russian army, and he was insane to a certain extent.
他还相信，装备竹矛的日军能够摧毁俄国军队，他已经精神错乱到一定程度了。
When you have an ideology that tells you that because of some x factor, you are the best in the world, while the rest of the world is somehow inferior, and it is beneficial for you to take extreme violence against "others", then you create a mentality among people that leads to aggression and ruthless violence.
当你有一种意识形态告诉你，由于某种X因素，你是世界上最好的，而世界上的其他地方不知何故是低劣的人，对你来说，对“他人”采取极端暴力行为是有益的，那么你就是在人们中创造了一种导致侵略和无情暴力的心态。
The cruelty of the Japanese in this regard is not unique. The Germans in World War II were also cruel and ruthless to foreigners. The Americans also committed cruel acts of genocide against indigenous Indians. The Dutch slaughtered the residents of today's entire Indonesian island in the process of pursuing wealth, and the Belgians slaughtered tens of thousands of locals in Congo.
日本人在这方面的残忍并不是独一无二的。二战中的德国人对外国人也很残忍无情，美国人还对土著印第安人犯下了残忍的种族灭绝行为，荷兰人在追求财富的过程中屠杀了今天印尼整个岛屿的居民，比利时人在刚果屠杀了数万名当地人。
It explains how, in the past, certain groups committed genocide against the people they faced, because they had a so-called religious belief that they were chosen and that their God's will was to eliminate all other pagans or heresies.
它解释了过去某些群体是如何对他们所面对的人民实施种族灭绝的，因为他们有一种所谓的宗教信仰，即他们是被选中的人，他们的神的意愿是消灭所有其他异教徒或异端。
I should mention that during the Boxer Movement at the end of the 19th century, that is, decades before World War II, Chinese civilians actually always loved to seek help and protection from the Japanese army. At that time, European and American troops were committing atrocities against the Chinese people. On the other hand, the Japanese were very decent.
我应该提到，在19世纪末的义和团运动期间，也就是二战前几十年，中国平民实际上总爱向日本军队寻求帮助和保护，当时，欧美军队正在对中国人民犯下暴行，另一方面，日本人却表现得非常得体。
In the late 1920s, there was an economic crisis in Japan. The far right militarist faction controlled the Japanese government and society - the social politics and economy were deteriorating. The military regarded ruling China as its destiny, just as the British ruled India or the Europeans killed Indians in the United States. The best way is to adopt a completely cruel attitude towards China, because they believe that all this has been completed, Japan can occupy the whole Chinese Mainland.
20世纪20年代后期，日本发生了经济危机，极右翼军国主义派别控制了日本政府和社会——社会政治和经济每况愈下，军方把统治中国视为自己的宿命，就像英国人统治印度或欧洲人在美国杀害印第安人一样，最好的办法就是对中国采取完全残酷的态度，因为他们相信这一切都完成了，日本可以占领整个中国大陆。
They believe that look at how the white people conquered Australia and North and South America, how the Ottoman Empire turned Constantinople, the largest Christian city and the capital of the Byzantine Empire, into a Muslim enclave Istanbul, and how the Mongols conquered half the world.
他们认为，看看白人是如何征服澳大利亚、南北美洲的，看看奥斯曼帝国是如何将最大的基督教城市、拜占庭帝国的首都君士坦丁堡变成穆斯林飞地伊斯坦布尔的，看看蒙古人是如何征服了半个世界的，我们应该和他们一样。
It is also worth noting that both Japan and Germany are militarist totalitarian societies, and they behave rudely towards outsiders, especially those conquered by them. When the army takes command, especially the army with traditional thinking, it only knows one way to solve the problem - attack and destruction.
同样值得注意的是，日本和德国都是军国主义极权社会，他们对外人（尤其是被他们征服的人）行为粗暴。当军队掌握指挥权时，尤其是有着传统思维的军队，它只知道一种解决问题的方法——进攻和摧毁。
I come from Singapore. Some of my compatriots treat servants in developing countries worse than animals. Their mentality is that they are bosses, they are educated, they have money, but the maid doesn't. therefore, she is inferior, and the boss can call her at will.
我来自新加坡，我的一些同胞对待发展中国家的佣人比对待动物更恶劣。他们的心态是，他们是老板，他们受过教育，他们有钱，而女佣却没有，因此，她是下等的，老板可以随心所欲地使唤她。
In the 1960s, American universities conducted a social engineering experiment to explore the relationship between authority and obedience. The content is to let participants electrocute other participants. Participants believed that this was true, but in fact - it was simulated - the victim of torture was an actor. It was found that when the examiner told the participants that they could give the maximum electric shock and actually kill "other participants", it was disturbing that many of them did. This was the Milgram experiment.
20世纪60年代，美国大学进行了一项社会工程实验，它是探究权威与服从关系的，内容是让参与者“电死”其他参与者。参与者认为这是真实的，但实际上——这是模拟的——酷刑受害者是一名演员。结果发现，当考官告诉参与者，他们可以最大限度地进行电击，并实际可以杀死“其他参与者”时，令人不安的是，他们中的许多人做到了，这就是米尔格兰姆实验。
The amazing results of the above series of experiments are thought-provoking.
上述系列实验的惊人结果发人深省，群体中的恶因此被放大了。
In the 21st century, many prison guards in Nazi concentration camps were still arrested and tried for war crimes, but did they just obey orders? Many soldiers in various countries have been prosecuted for terrible atrocities - including rape and killing innocent civilians - do they just obey instructions from their superiors? If so, will this reduce their responsibility for their actions? This issue is still highly controversial.
在21世纪，当年纳粹集中营的许多监狱看守仍旧因战争罪被逮捕和受审，但他们当时是否只是服从命令而已？各国的众多士兵因可怕的暴行被起诉——包括强奸和杀害无辜的平民——他们是否只是服从了来自上级的指令？如果是，这是否可以减轻他们对自己的所作所为负的责任？这个问题至今仍具有高度的争议性。
On August 6, 1945, when Japan was facing a complete disaster, its troops in the Pacific were annihilated, its main cities were destroyed by the enemy bomber fleet, the once powerful Japanese fleet was sunk, and the enemy Navy realized a 100% blockade. When the only B-29 bomber of the United States just dropped an atomic bomb in Hiroshima, the Japanese leadership decided:
1945年8月6日，当日本面临彻底的毁灭时，它在太平洋的军队被歼灭，其主要城市被敌方轰炸机舰队摧毁，曾经强大的日本舰队被击沉，敌方海军实现了百分之百的封锁，当美国唯一的B-29轰炸机刚刚在广岛市投下原子弹时，日本领导层决定：
We should step up training grandma and primary school students to repel the American invaders with bamboo spears. Of course, we should also carry out a barbaric war in China.
我们要抓紧训练老太太和小学生用竹矛击退美国侵略者，当然还要在中国进行野蛮的战争。
日本投降一刻
Japanese leaders have such a slogan - "100 million people are perish together". Even after the second atomic bomb is dropped, the Japanese leadership does not want to surrender.
日本领导人有这样一句口号——“一亿人玉碎”，即使在第二颗原子弹被投下后，日本领导层也不想投降。
It is conceivable that Japanese fascists have been crazy to a certain extent.
可以想象日本法西斯已经疯狂到一定程度了。
美国网友詹姆斯•萨克尔的回答
There are many factors at work: racism, elitism, self-esteem and what they call a "sense of destiny".
有许多因素在起作用：种族主义、精英主义、自尊以及他们所谓的“天命感”。
First of all, Japan is naturally a racist country. It's today. It's been a long time. They are a very homogeneous country and resist any form of immigration. Today, other Asians, such as Koreans, must change their names to Japanese to assimilate.
首先，日本天生就是一个种族主义国家。就是今天，已经存在很久了。他们是一个非常同质的国家，抵制任何形式的移民，今天的其他亚洲人，比如韩国人，都必须把自己的名字改成日语来同化。
Therefore, they treat other Asians as inhuman as Germans treat Jews and Slavs.
因此，他们对待其他亚洲人，就像德国人对待犹太人和斯拉夫人一样，是非人性的。
This is very contradictory, because Japanese evolved from Chinese, so there is an element of elitism. The Chinese are more advanced and civilized than the Japanese, but the Japanese think they have evolved to a higher level than the Chinese, so they treat them as Germans treat Eastern Europeans. Coercing neighboring countries to build a greater East Asia common prosperity circle, that is, the Japanese Empire from 1941 to 1944, is actually not Asia for Asians, but Japan's Asia.
这很矛盾，因为日语是从汉语演变而来的，所以有一种精英主义的成分，中国人本来就比日本人更先进和文明，可日本人认为他们已经进化到比中国人更高的水平，因此对待他们就像对待德国人对待东欧人一样。胁迫周边国家构建所谓的大东亚共同繁荣圈，也就是1941-1944年的日本帝国，对亚洲人来说，实际上不是亚洲，而是日本的亚洲。
In 1942, the Japanese got a serious case of victory disease. They defeated not only the United States, but also Britain, France and the Netherlands. This made them dizzy with victory.
1942年，日本人得了一例严重的胜利病。他们不仅击败了美国，还击败了英国、法国和荷兰。这让他们被胜利冲昏了头脑。
In 1853, due to the negative impact of active contact with the Portuguese and the British, the Japanese cut off contact with the West. They expelled all gagin (barbarians) and their priests and stopped trade.
在1853年，由于与葡萄牙人和英国人主动接触的负面影响，日本人切断了与西方的联系，他们驱逐了所有的盖金（野蛮人）和他们的牧师，并停止了贸易。
It was not until 1853 that brigadier general Perry landed in Okinawa and Japan to establish a refueling base for the United States that Japan's relations with the West were restored.
直到1853年，美国海军准将佩里登陆冲绳和日本，为美国建立加油基地，日本与西方的关系才得以恢复。
With a feeling of revenge, Japan got rid of isolation, self exile and began the process of industrialization. In a short period of 50-60 years, they built a navy and defeated Imperial Russia and wiped out the Russian Pacific Fleet in the tushma naval battle in 1905. This triggered Japan's adventurism in the Asian continent and eventually led to its invasion of China. Theodore Roosevelt mediated the negotiations to end the war, Japan got North Korea, and Russia gave up its claim to Manchuria, which was finally occupied by Japan.
日本带着复仇的心情摆脱了闭关锁国，自我放逐，开始了工业化进程。在短短50-60年的时间里，他们建设了一支海军，并在1905年的图希马海战中击败了帝国俄国，歼灭了俄国太平洋舰队。这引发了日本在亚洲大陆的冒险主义，并最终导致其入侵中国。西奥多·罗斯福斡旋谈判结束了这场战争，日本得到了朝鲜，俄罗斯放弃了对日本最终占领的满洲的主权要求。
少年的洗脑和训练
Now, Japan treats its soldiers cruelly. Beating and humiliation are part of basic training and a way to maintain discipline. Therefore, it is not surprising that prisoners are also treated cruelly. Add Bushido nonsense and so-called doctrines, and you have the perfect approval to cruelly treat prisoners.
现在，日本残暴地对待自己的军人。殴打、羞辱都是基本训练的一部分，也是维持纪律的方式。因此，囚犯也受到残酷对待也就不足为奇了。再加上武士道的胡说八道和所谓的教义，日本军人获得了残酷对待囚犯的完全批准。
If you think being caught alive is an unforgivable disgrace, prisoners of war are more despicable in your mind than shit. In addition, thousands of Japanese soldiers starved to death due to disease due to the poor criminal logistics organization that Japan tried to establish. Therefore, if the Japanese had little food and supplies, they would not waste too much on prisoners of war.
日本军人认为，被活捉是不可原谅的耻辱，战俘在他们心目中比狗屎还卑鄙。除此之外，由于日本试图建立的恶劣的刑事后勤组织，数千名日本士兵因疾病而饿死。因此，如果日本人几乎没有食物和补给，他们就不会在战俘身上浪费太多。
Now it's about self-esteem. Japan has something to prove itself. From a poor dependent country, it has become one of the Asian powers in about 60 years. They made a mess of the country where their former neighbors bullied Japan, and still feel that they are not good enough. This inherent self-esteem problem still exists today. The Japanese can only be called American people first. They love everything in the United States. The most popular plastic surgery is eyelid surgery: eyelid plastic surgery, which aims to make their eyes look more western and local.
还有就是自尊的问题。日本有一些东西需要证明自己，他们从一个可怜的附属国，在大约60年的时间里成为了亚洲的列强之一。他们把以前的邻里欺负日本的国家打得一塌糊涂，仍然感觉自己不够好，这种固有的自尊问题在今天仍然存在，日本人只能被称为美国亲民。他们热爱美国的一切，最受欢迎的整形手术是眼睑手术：眼睑整形术，目的是让他们的眼睛看起来更西式，去掉更具本土特色。
So on the whole, you can say that the core reason is racial and cultural differences, as well as some elitism and self-esteem.
所以从整体上看，可以说核心原因是种族和文化差异，还有一些精英主义，自尊问题。
