We often talk about what makes a good military on this subreddit, why a certain country has better performing soldiers than another. Many of the answers often boil down to "recruit willing soldiers, treat them well, have leaders that care about the wellbeing of soldiers under their commend", with badly performing armies being composed of unwilling conscripts who were poorly treated and led

But looking at the IJA in WW2, it looks like they broke basically every "rule" we have about what makes a good fighting soldier. IJA draftees were constantly abused by their NCOs and officers, with corporeal punishment for even minor infractions a daily occurrence, and NCOs beating soldiers for no reason. All soldiers were draftees, and many were quite unhappy draftees as they were from older conscript classes who were torn away from their established civilian lives for service. Conditions for many IJA garrisons were poor, and the diet for soldiers largely consisted of white rice, leading to poor nutrition for many IJA troops. There was a significant class gulf between IJA officers and soldiers, IJA officers were often promoted for political loyalty in factional battles inside the IJA, and officers could be quite callous with the lives of their soldiers

All of these factors would seem to create on paper a badly treated, badly motivated, and badly led conscript army that crumbled in the face of enemy resistance and was prone to surrender if the opportunity prevented itself - but the opposite was the case. IJA soldiers were effective on the offense against all opponents they fought, often even when more lightly equipped, and were tenacious fighters on the defensive. Japanese formations routinely fought to the death even when being put in the most hopeless positions and under horrific conditions, when resistance had long since ceased to be meaningful

Obviously there are cultural differences, and that alone might explain the willingness to fight to the end and refuse surrender in a hopeless situation. But what made poorly treated, badly abused conscripts highly effective and highly motivated soldiers on the offensive too in the Japanese case, and not in the case of 1941 USSR or 1945 Germany or 1991 Iraq or 1994 Chechnya or 2014 Syria?