The Japanese were not well known for their benevolent treatment of prisoners during the war. The Japanese bushido code of honor--even if there was no longer a ruling samurai-warrior class--was still revered by many Japanese, and thus anyone who would willingly surrender was beneath contempt. The Japanese were also incredibly nationalistic and extremely racist at the time so the idea that other cultures might not admire suicide--or in the case of Westerners, even condemn it--either never occurred to them or was insignificant. The war in the Pacific was also extremely racially charged on all sides. The Japanese viewed themselves in largely the same way the Germans under the Nazis were told to view the Germanic race--as the Übermenschen, the greatest on the planet. So the Japanese had no qualms about committing horrible autrocities against those who fell before them, which included Allied prisoners of war. On the other hand, you would be hard-pressed to find many white sub-urban Americans, Australians, or British who had a respectful view of the Japanese either, and the Japanese were slaughtered without mercy or hinderance whenever the Allies were given the chance. But considering that they would have received NO mercy from the enemy either, it is understandable. The prisoner of war camps were perhaps a few steps above legitimate death camps. Guards would beat and shoot prisoners at will, there were always food shortages, dismal sanitation systems, and often the prisoners were forced to perform heavy and grueling labor in tropical climates as was portrayed in the film "Bridge over the River Kwai." Basically, you were extremely lucky if you survived one of these camps long enough to be liberated by Allied forces.