The Suicide Gods

When Japanese fighter pilots during WWII got into dogfights that were going poorly, they naturally considered the "honorable" option of crashing their planes into enemy airfighters.

By late 1944, the war was not going as well as the Japanese had hoped. American naval forces were slowly making headway across the Pacific. After some discussion among the brass, the first formal suicide attack was organized as a volunteer effort (apparantly, previous suicide attacks had been spur-of-the-moment decisions).

Suicide has always been a much larger component of Japanese culture (which has a lot of issues) than in Western civilization, which never really embraced the idea of "death with honor." Samurai code allowed for the practice of "Seppuku," which was a ritual self-disembowerment, popularly known in the West as Harakiri. Seppuku was generally used to absolve one's self of some disgrace or defeat.

The suicide mindset continues in Japan today, where failed businessmen opt for the "honorable" way out and deranged teenagers take part in Internet suicide pacts for no special reason. Japan has the highest suicide rate among industrialized nations, with more deaths by suicide than by traffic accident.

This is indeed an alarming fact.

According to the Japanese, transcend life and death. When you eliminate all thoughts about life and death, you will be able to totally disregard your earthly life. This will also enable you to concentrate your attention on eradicating the unsolvable problem, a predicament that has no solution, in WWII the enemy.

The kamikaze pilots carried manuals in their cockpits,which included passages extolling the spiritual worth of the mission as well as helpful tips in doing the maximum amount of damage before one's fiery demise. A ritual is done before the pilot embarkes on this mission.

A Guide to Honorable Death.

Jihads in Lebanon, Female Tamil Tiger suicide bombers, Chechen suicide bombings and most recently and famously 9/11.
Seppuku has transcended into the world beyond culture, beyond race.

I cannot imagine talking and coaxing a suicide bomber to stop his or her mission.
I guess its a Futile mission in itself.
One can not negotiate with suicide bombers and deal with their kamikaze mindset
The suicide bomber will sacrifice themselves for maxium death and believe the religious rants and propaganda that embodies his or her death, Honourable death.

(Inspired by the book "Kamikaze: Japan's Suicide Gods.")