Photo shows an australian commando, i believe, who had been captured on the island of new guinea. There is a semicircle of japanese soldiers around watching as he has his head cut off. The photographer caught it in mid stroke. It looks like something that european countries haven't done since the 16 hundreds. But let's remember this is a cultural difference,. In places like china, they were still pretty comfortable cutting people's heads off, too.
The Asia-Pacific War of 1937-1945 has deep roots. It also involves a Japanese society that's been called one of the most distinctive on Earth. If there were a Japanese version of Captain America, this would be his origin story.