Their samurai attitude placing the value of fighting men so far above anything else prevented them from seeing the need to specifically not allow their skilled work force to act as mere conscripts and cannon fodder.
It's got a lot to do with how warfare was in Asia to really understand this. It doesn't necessarily have to do with the samurai attitude - it runs deeper into the history of society and warfare in Asia, than being just an ideological problem.
For example, the current Korean military is about the nastiest place for a lively young man in his early 20's to be. Every male is to be conscripted and serve two years of military service.
The barracks are like the size of a living room in most homes, where about 20 people sleep in cramped up spaces. It's basically what Western people would expect to see in their own prisons. The pay is like 20 bucks for a month of service.
The conditions are inhumane. Toilets and showers are utterly crappy. Food service is horrible and hardly clean at all. Beatings still occur. People sleep in makeshft barracks where rainfalls can cause landslides and bury everybody inside. There is hardly any welfare associated with being in the military, but still we're forced to suck it up.
Why? Because defending a country is a duty, and when faced with a duty you aren't supposed to ask questions, or complain. Whatever they tell you to do, you just do it.
I mean, in modern warfare, would these kind of conscripts make any difference? Look at the way the US military just simply ripped through Iraqui resistance in the war.
The whole point for the military service in South Korea is that if a war ever breaks out with North Korea, whether the soldiers are ready or not, equipped or not, of high morale or not.. a war is gonna be fought and no young man will be able to just sit out and wait to be prepared for war. The military is going to throw the soldiers as a buffer in the frontlines. Soldiers aren't trained to fight and survive - they are just trained to fight.
The key to understanding why people do this kind of stuff, is the key to understanding Japan in the final days of war. It's not just a samurai thing. It's an old Asian habit of warfare that just doesn't die out.
