I think generally, that saving face thing still exists, especially amongst the upper classes. Suicide before surrender is probably the most drastic manifestation of the mindset, after "honor" killings....
cough ** honour *** cough
we will be having none of that American spelling on here thank you very much , just cause the French bailed you out in 1778 doesn't give you the right to invent your own language
Yeah, but because we bailed YOU out in 1941, it does. Pretty fair tradeoff, no? We help you fend off the Germans and Japanese, and in return we lose a few U's and add a few Z's. My great uncle fought in Europe. He fought hard for those Z's. And I intend to use them liberally.