Posted on 07/08/2007 1:10:35 PM PDT by gandalftb
CHIRAN, Japan -- Lt. Uchida faced a terrifying mission - crash his plane into a U.S. warship. But the young kamikaze's final letter was full of bravado.
"Now I'll go and get rid of those devils," vowing to "bring back the neck" of President Roosevelt. But for an increasingly bold cadre of conservatives, Uchida's words symbolize just the kind of guts and commitment Japanese youth need.
The suicidal flyers are glorified in a film by Tokyo's governor, a well-known nationalist. A museum about kamikazes gets 500,000 visitors a year.
The hero-worship of the kamikazes coincides with a trend seeing the war as noble...
Prime Minister Abe is pushing to revise the pacifist constitution.
Japanese have had a soft spot for the kamikazes. The pilots are seen as innocent young men forced into sacrificing their lives.
Today's kamikaze-boosters deny they are pro-war but the nationalist sentiment is clear.
Director Shinjo said Japan launched the war in self-defense, and the decision to send young men on suicide missions was the only option left.
"When you get to the roots of the Japanese soul, I think they are embodied in the kamikaze pilots."
"It's extremely dangerous to glorify the kamikaze pilots as tragic heroes." said Atsushi Shirai, a historian.
Emiko Ohnuki-Tierney, author of "Kamikaze Diaries," said that rather than stoic warriors, many were tortured souls, browbeaten and abused into flying to their deaths.
The Peace Museum for Kamikaze Pilots goes to great lengths to make the point that the flyers nobly gave their lives for their families. A large painting shows angels bearing the broken bodies of the pilots to heaven.
Museum director Kikunaga said the pilots were attacking military targets, not civilians. He argued it was hypocritical of Americans to compare kamikazes with terrorists after colonizing wide swaths of the world.
(Excerpt) Read more at forbes.com ...
I’ve been considering taking a trip into the mountains, finding a huge bear, sneaking up on it and kicking it in the nads. For self defensive purposes of course.
Isn’t that what the Japanese did to the us? The consequences are about the same!
“No cut off finger! Take Polaroid!”
So Japan invaded Manchuria in self-defense, comitted the rape of Nanking in self-defense, attacked Pearl Harbor in self-defense, etc....
Sure, it was in self-defense....and I'll be spending the night with Penelope Cruz!
I don't know how much water it holds, but it's an interesting take.
You can call the Japanese soldiers during the WW2 era a lot of things: brutal, ruthless, heartless, patriotic, etc., but they were not cowards and they never ran away from a fight unless you call committing suicide by Seppuku (aka hara-kiri) cowardly!
Hello TSN Queen!
*bows before TSN Queen*
Amy Grant would be disappointed. LOL!
As was touched upon by my post- mutiny for them would have been an exceptionally different approach than how they historically responded to the will of their god-king. Their philosophies overwhelm such independent-minded approaches.
No, they agreed to do their ruler’s bidding, even at the cost of their lives. I’m sure there were some who resisted, there always are- but they would have been met with little sympathy from their brothers-in-arms.
As for the effectiveness of their tactics- I do not disagree. Very wasteful. But again, completely genuine to their culture.
I saw a picture of Penelope Cruz on the beach in a bikini. As Ralph Kramden would say, "hamana...hamana...hamana"!
Amy Grant is still no.1!
Yoboseyo!
Don’t forget that Japan also had manned torpedoes against American ships. I don’t know if any were actually used in combat.
“....that prior to taking off had cut off his left hand pinky finger and given it to him to remember him by.”
It must have been properly terrifying to fight these guys.
Ping!
“Japanese...are an extremely prideful people....”
Extremely well put, sir. They are among the most racist people on earth. And yet, every August 6th (the day WWII really began, in their eyes) we `gaijin’ Americans get beaten on the head about the `atrocities’ of Hiroshima and Nagasaki.
A U.S. ground invasion of the Japan home islands would have exterminated most of the generation of our Japanese critics of today (as well as causing the deaths of untold numbers of American military).
So they glorify Kamikaze and worship Tojo at the infamous Yasukune shrine?
This `western devil’ finds such to be despicable.
My wife's orthodontist is a visiting intern from Tokyo. When asked if he was considering relocating to America, he replied: "Oh no, I would never raise my children around Blacks." In my other experiences with Japanese businessmen I have found them to be absolutely racist and unapologetic about their feelings, although they rarely express them.
The Code of the Bushido emphasizes success in the attack, the death of the attacker is not considered a waste as long as the attack succeeds.
The goal was to succeed by any means. Guadalcanal was unusual in that the Japanese we fought had not known defeat and were certain that we soft Americans would buckle. The units we fought were Royal Marines, big strong, well trained. They were tough to kill. Their fatal and worst mistake was being unaware of the fighting spirit and toughness of our Marines and our superior fire-power.
Our young men and women are fighting people just as dedicated today. I pray for them daily. Semper Fi
They fed their troops in piecemeal and got them chewed up. It was obvious they vastly under estimated the fighting spirit of the Marines.
I’m glad you made it through and thanks for your service. (My father’s generation had many men like you.)
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