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archived 2026-06-29T20:05:00Z from https://www.google.com.mm/search?q=From%20Donald%20Keene%20in%20Guam%20to%20Ted%20de%20Bary%20in%20Okinawa(Ruined%20Empire)%20%2023%20September%201945%20Dear%20Ted,%20%20The%20captain,%20my%20tentmate,%20advocates%20extermination%20of%20the%20Japanese%20because%20of%20their%20innate%20wickedness,%20one%20example%20of%20which%20he%20cited%20being%20the%20cannibalism%20recorded%20of%20them%20in%20New%20Guinea%20and%20elsewhere.%20I%20had%20previously%20spoken%20of%20the%20matter%20to%20prisoners%20who,%20while%20expressing%20horror%20at%20the%20deed,%20said%20in%20return,%20"If%20your%20comrade,%20feeling%20himself%20dying,%20were%20to%20say%20to%20you,%20'I%20beg%20you%20to%20eat%20me%20so%20that%20the%20rest%20of%20you%20can%20live,'%20what%20would%20you%20do?%20Wouldn't%20you%20be%20moved%20by%20the%20spirit%20of%20self-sacrifice%20which%20denied%20the%20individual%20for%20the%20survival%20of%20many?"%20Of%20course,%20it%20may%20be%20answered%20that%20the%20persons%20eaten%20in%20New%20Guinea%20did%20not%20so%20plead,%20but%20the%20fact%20remains%20that%20the%20Japanese%20are%20capable%20of%20the%20type%20of%20communal%20interest,%20if%20you%20like,%20that%20permits%20cannibalism%20for%20the%20sake%20of%20the%20group.%20On%20this%20island%20there%20was%20recently%20a%20cannibalism%20case.%20The%20two%20defendants%20had%20been%20discovered%20as%20a%20result%20of%20their%20own%20confessions%20to%20other%20prisoners%20in%20the%20stockade,%20who%20were%20instinctively%20repelled%20by%20the%20account%20and%20moved%20to%20inform%20the%20officers%20in%20charge.%20By%20the%20time%20the%20trial%20came%20up,%20however,%20they%20had%20changed%20their%20minds%20and%20were%20anxious%20to%20serve%20as%20character%20witnesses.%20The%20trial%20itself%20was%20held%20under%20the%20worst%20possible%20circumstances,%20the%20official%20interpreter,%20a%20Guam%20Chamorro,%20being%20capable%20of%20rendering%20"Were%20you%20out%20on%20patrol?%20"%20only%20by%20"Were%20you%20out%20on%20a%20picnic?"%20It%20was%20generally%20conceded%20that%20the%20two%20prisoners%20would%20hang%20,%20and%20the%20trial%20was%20therefore%20not%20pressed%20as%20it%20might%20have%20been.%20The%20story%20was%20that%20of%20a%20band%20of%20Japanese%20who%20had%20been%20hiding%20in%20the%20jungles%20of%20Guam,%20long%20since%20cut%20off%20from%20any%20organized%20units.%20The%20leader%20of%20this%20particular%20band%20was%20a%20certain%20Ohora.%20Ohora%20one%20day%20became%20incensed%20at%20an%20Okinawan%20civilian%20(who%20had%20been%20living%20on%20Guam)%20and%20killed%20him.%20The%20group%20had%20been%20wandering%20in%20the%20jungle%20for%20months,%20living%20on%20lizards%20and%20roots,%20so%20Ohora%20thought%20that%20it%20would%20be%20a%20good%20idea%20to%20eat%20the%20Okinawan%20as%20their%20first%20real%20food%20in%20a%20long%20time.%20They%20cut%20off%20the%20head,%20the%20hands%20and%20the%20feet%20and%20buried%20them.%20The%20fat%20and%20gristle%20were%20then%20also%20separated.%20Ohora%20cut%20up%20the%20flesh%20into%20chunks%20and%20fried%20it.%20Then,%20while%20the%20group%20sat%20around%20eating%20the%20Okinawan,%20others%20living%20in%20the%20jungle%20joined%20them,%20attracted%20by%20the%20smell%20of%20the%20cooking.%20The%20Okinawan%20lasted%20for%20several%20days.%20At%20one%20point,%20Shōji,%20one%20of%20the%20defendants,%20couldn't%20stand%20it%20any%20longer%20and%20started%20to%20throw%20away%20some%20of%20the%20gristle%20which%20had%20been%20stored%20in%20a%20bucket.%20Ohora%20caught%20him%20and%20accused%20him%20of%20eating%20the%20gristle%20himself.%20A%20few%20days%20later,%20Ohora%20told%20Shōji%20that%20he%20had%20to%20kill%20the%20Okinawan's%20son,%20a%20boy%20of%20twelve%20or%20thirteen.“%20But%20Shigeru%20is%20a%20nice%20boy.%20Let's%20not%20kill%20him.%20We%20can%20get%20along%20on%20lizards,%20"%20Shōji%20protested.%20Ohora%20answered,%20"%20If%20you%20don't%20get%20Shigeru,%20we%20will%20kill%20you%20and%20eat%20you%20instead."%20Shōji%20was%20sufficiently%20frightened.%20He%20went%20over%20to%20Shigeru's%20hiding%20place%20and%20invited%20him%20for%20dinner.%20Like%20the%20terrible%20joke%20in%20Hamlet%20about%20Polonius%20being%20at%20supper,%20not%20where%20he%20eats%20but%20is%20eaten,%20Shigeru%20became%20the%20victim,%20the%20dinner%20itself.%20The%20other%20defendant%20actually%20killed%20him,%20and%20they%20all%20sat%20around%20eating%20that%20night.%20Shigeru%20proved%20to%20be%20a%20better%20dinner%20than%20his%20father.%20Shōji%20admitted%20having%20eaten%20his%20testicles-%20"They%20didn't%20taste%20very%20good."%20The%20defense%20held%20that%20this%20was%20the%20law%20of%20the%20jungle.%20My%20tentmate,%20had%20he%20known%20the%20story,%20would%20have%20pointed%20to%20it%20as%20a%20crowning%20proof%20of%20Japanese%20wickedness.%20I%20had%20known%20that%20the%20Japanese%20had%20practiced%20cannibalism%20in%20New%20Guinea%20and%20in%20the%20bypassed%20islands%20of%20the%20Marshalls,%20but%20so%20close%20a%20contact%20was%20frightening.%20The%20first%20reaction%20of%20anyone%20on%20hearing%20of%20a%20case%20of%20cannibalism%20is%20a%20nervous%20laughter.%20It%20is%20only%20on%20thought%20of%20the%20particulars%20of%20the%20deed%20that%20one%20feels%20the%20real%20shock-the%20frying%20of%20the%20flesh%20and%20the%20cleaning%20of%20the%20innards.%20Is%20the%20kind%20of%20horror%20we%20experience%20a%20basic%20congenital%20one?%20Natives%20of%20the%20Southwest%20Pacific%20lived%20for%20hundreds%20or%20thousands%20of%20years%20without%20feeling%20it.%20I%20think%20that%20Herodotus%20recited%20the%20case%20of%20some%20tribe%20whose%20members%20considered%20it%20a%20grievous%20sin%20if%20sons%20of%20dead%20fathers%20did%20not%20eat%20their%20parent's%20body.%20The%20horror%20of%20the%20story%20of%20Atreus%20and%20the%20banquet%20at%20which%20he%20ate%20his%20sons,%20or%20of%20Harpagon%20similarly%20punished%20by%20a%20wicked%20ruler,%20must%20be%20based%20on%20something%20fundamental,%20as%20basic%20perhaps%20as%20the%20dread%20of%20incest.%20Yet,%20the%20prisoners%20could%20ask%20me%20if%20eating%20a%20dead%20comrade%20might%20not%20be%20best%20in%20view%20of%20his%20expressed%20wishes,%20and%20there%20was%20a%20defense%20of%20the%20admitted%20cannibals%20on%20this%20island%20on%20the%20grounds%20that%20the%20"law%20of%20the%20jungle"%20is%20not%20the%20law%20of%20ordinary%20man.%20The%20problem%20is%20an%20extreme%20case%20of%20something%20with%20which%20we%20shall%20have%20to%20deal%20in%20the%20Orient%20-%20the%20divergence%20of%20absolute%20standards.%20Thus,%20for%20example,%20while%20a%20Japanese%20can%20consider%20it%20absolutely%20bad%20to%20be%20taken%20prisoner,%20bad%20without%20qualification,%20we%20do%20not%20agree%20at%20all%20.%20On%20the%20other%20hand%20,%20we%20are%20infuriated%20by%20Japanese%20treatment%20of%20our%20prisoners%20,%20little%20imagining%20that%20it%20may%20result%20more%20from%20a%20Japanese%20divergence%20of%20opinion%20on%20treatment%20of%20prisoners%20than%20from%20deliberate%20evil,%20our%20absolute%20judgment.&udm=36&oq=https://www.jstor.org/stable/23613066?seq=4&sei=7c9CarW-L9qtkdUP8pCNgAw