In Japan, key features of totalitarianism such as ideology, control of individuals, and control of information led to the atrocities of the medical experiments of the Unit 731, Bataan Death March and rape. of Nanjing committed during the Second World War. First, Japanese ideology contributed to the atrocity of the medical experiments committed by Unit 731, with the Japanese believing that surrender was dishonorable, allowing them to distance themselves from their POWs. Ideology in a state refers to the ideas that guide the government and the people to the extent that it creates and justifies the goals and actions of the state. The Japanese believed that surrender was dishonorable and considered suicide a better way to die. In the film Letters, the key feature of the control of individuals is the act of a state that denies fundamental rights, expects personal sacrifices for the good of the state, and demands obedience to the state. In the film Letters from Iwo Jima, Shimizu was ordered to kill a dog to avoid disruption to state communications. Furthermore, Saigo was forced to join the army, leaving his wife behind and going against his own feelings of opposition to combat, in order to show his loyalty to the state and obey orders ( Letters from Iwo Jima). Then, in January 1942, Japan invaded the Philippines. In response, American and Filipino forces took up defensive positions on the Bataan Peninsula, but after three months control of the territory was taken by the Japanese. Subsequently, having been ordered to move the prisoners inland to avoid release, Japanese soldiers forced the Allied prisoners of war to travel 50 miles up the peninsula, resulting in the deaths of approximately 16 000 people along the way (WWII Lecture Notes). First, Shimizu's experiment reveals that Japan used the key trait of controlling individuals, as being forced to kill a dog in order to prevent the disruption of state communications illustrates the requirement for total obedience to the State. Likewise, Saigo's experience also demonstrates this key trait as his recruitment into the military showed that personal sacrifices were expected of citizens of the state, as he was forced to leave his family and d ignore his beliefs to fight for Japan. Likewise, control of individuals was evident in the Japanese order to move prisoners within the country, since the Japanese government demanded total obedience to the state in pursuing state goals, including the victory of the war. Therefore, in order to improve their situation, the prisoners of war could not be released, and this objective led to the order to move them inland, as this was necessary.