As I recall the scene, the need to communicate with the general was not critical. Yet it seemed to those soldiers that suicide for honor was a good idea. Well before electronically guided torpedoes were developed, men would climb into tiny, coffin like boxes and steer bombs through the ocean into enemy ships. One of the popular concepts that I accept as accurate for each of these cases may be nothing more than a simple rationalization. It may also be a remnant of theories I studied in sociology classes in college.
Eastern societies place a great deal of value on the well being of the group.
That means jumping off a cliff sounds like an okay idea to an Eastern person. To us Westerners, it s, well, nuts. We can t comprehend the circumstances. The idea is so foreign, so outrageous to our way of thinking that it s virtually unimaginable. Which leads me to the Palestinians and Israel.