Cultures in which cannibalistic practices are well-attested

[Stuart]

If you want to count the Japanese Army as a "culture" in and of itself, then this would certainly count.

I think its very reasonable to do so. The Imperial Japanese Army culture (to a lesser extent the Imperial Navy culture) of Japan from the late 1920s up to August 1945 was quite distinct from Japanese civilian culture and very different from traditional Japanese military culture. In fact, the military culture of the Japanese Armed Forces from the 1920s to 1945 was such a complete perversion of everything traditional Japanese military culture stood for that it's hard to understand how that perversion happened. Again, Flyboys goes into this in some detail. Despite its flippant title and somewhat irritating writing style, Flyboys is actually a scholarly and well-researched book that covers a lot more ground than its title might suggest. Once thing it does show quite vividly is that, while U.S. forces have done some pretty vile things over the years, their behavior was an extension of, and a mirror-image radicalization of, American behavior and values. In the case of the Japanese "Spirit Warriors" (a description coined in Flyboys to describe the Japanese military culture of 1920-1945), there is no connection between that culture and traditional Japanese culture and values. The one isn't a mirror image or radicalization of the other, the two have no connection at all. The Japanese Armed forces in that era bore a greater resemblance to a death cult than to anything else. Another interesting thing to note is that Japanese units serving in the U.S. armed forces, most notably in Italy, did reflect traditional Japanese military values rather than the perversion of those values fomented by the Spirit Warriors.

So, yes, I think it would be reasonable to class the 1920-1945 Japanese armed forces in general and the Army in particular as being distinct cultures, seperated from their civilian roots.

[[R_H]]

What about the Easter Islanders after the collapse of their civilisation?

[Imperial Overlord]

What about the Easter Islanders after the collapse of their civilisation?

It falls into the survival cannibalism category.

[Gil Hamilton]

Stuart, a question. To what extent did this extend to the Japanese Navy of the time? I understand that the Japanese Navy, by and large, held the Army in higher amounts of disgust than Navies typically hold Armies, but frankly, I know very little about the subject except that their Naval Marshal General (Admiral Isoroku Yamamoto) was a generally decent guy who while loyal to his flag, never thought they could win in the first place.

[TithonusSyndrome]

Cannibalism was practiced voluntarily on Papua New Guinea for a time, and reputedly survives into the modern day to some (highly limited extent)... and that's about it. The cannibalism thing is really every bit as much a form of slander among neolithic tribes as it is slander coming from industrialized peoples to whomever they're directing their hyperboles at today.

[Stuart]

Stuart, a question. To what extent did this extend to the Japanese Navy of the time? I understand that the Japanese Navy, by and large, held the Army in higher amounts of disgust than Navies typically hold Armies, but frankly, I know very little about the subject except that their Naval Marshal General (Admiral Isoroku Yamamoto) was a generally decent guy who while loyal to his flag, never thought they could win in the first place.

It's hard to say; most of the recorded instances of cannibalism refer to the Imperial Japanese Army. This may be because the practice was confined to the Army (it originated in China after all and that was almost entirely an Army affair) or because the very nature of the Navy meant there were fewer opportunities for the practice. Also, the nature of a warship (most of which were sunk) might make it harder for evidence to be found. So, the truthful answer is, I don't know. Fruitful ground for a History PhD there I think.

[Gil Hamilton]

It's hard to say; most of the recorded instances of cannibalism refer to the Imperial Japanese Army. This may be because the practice was confined to the Army (it originated in China after all and that was almost entirely an Army affair) or because the very nature of the Navy meant there were fewer opportunities for the practice. Also, the nature of a warship (most of which were sunk) might make it harder for evidence to be found. So, the truthful answer is, I don't know. Fruitful ground for a History PhD there I think.

I can't imagine the Navy would start, if only because as a general rule, ships can't pillage themselves and don't have much opportunity to pillage anyone else, though the Japanese had Naval troops, I suppose. What I'm interested in is whether the general absolutely depravity of the Imperial Japanese Army's culture extended to the Navy. I seem to recall that the highest ranking Japanese officer whom the allies executed after the war was no less than a general and one of the charges against him was cannibalism, but the limited knowledge I have of the IJN makes it hard to believe that their own officers were that depraved.

The problem is, it's hard to tell. Actually last night I finished re-reading James Jones semi-autobiographical account of Guadalcanal, the classic "The Thin Red Line". In it, two American GI's bodies are recovered from some retreating IJA, whom leave them with their heads cut off and their genitals shoved in their mouths. One of the characters muses to himself on how intricate their tea ceremonies were, how beautiful their calligraphy was, and how sadistic and cruel their torture is, because he cannot connect in his brain how a culture can be so sensitive and murderous at the same time.

I find when I read accounts from WW2, I have a similar problem. My grandfather's journals on the matter are interesting with regards to the Japanese. One of his entries during the Korean War*, he was writing about going to a Japanese bath-house while he was stationed in Japan. It was a very funny thing because most of the entry was how utterly impossible it was to be 6'4" tall in Japan, but the part that struck me was his admission that on a person to person level, he really got along very well with everyone he met in Japan, that they were really alright, and he couldn't understand how exactly it was possible that these were the same screaming horde who he fought not a decade previous.

*Sergeant John Kennedy, USMC. He served in both the Pacific theatre and Korea... ironically surviving both without serious injury despite seeing the worst of both only to die of diabetes when he got back the United States. Go figure. I'm always looking for more information about him, but the internet isn't very fruitful when the person you are searching for has the name "John Kennedy".