Kamikaze pilots, meaning divine wind, were pilots in wartime Japan where they sacrificed their lives to protect their nation in the name of Emperor Hirohito. In March 1944, 19-year-old Ryouta Fujihara became a Kamikaze pilot. He lived and grew up in Okinawa. He volunteered in the army’s youth pilot training in November 1943 and later volunteered for a suicidal attack. He and his comrade, Takashi Ine, trained together for months. Takashi was almost like an older brother figure to Ryouta. Seeing as they were away from their families, they almost felt a desire to look out for one another, even though they were destined to die. Hundreds of American and British battleships and aircraft carriers were sailing towards Okinawa. He was asked by his …show more content…
They also damaged 23 carriers, five battleships, nine cruisers, 23 destroyers and 27 other ships. American casualties amounted to 738 killed and another 1,300 wounded as the result of those attacks. Takashi Ine died on a Kamikaze mission near Okinawa in 1945. He was 20-years-old. Ryouta did not die. As he flew south towards his target, his engine failed and he was forced to ditch in the sea. He returned to his unit, but the war ended before he could try again. For many years afterwards he kept his story a secret, ashamed he had survived. He often thought of committing suicide, he says, but didn 't have the courage. Then, in the 1970s, he started to reach out to the families of his dead comrades, asking them for letters and photographs from the dead pilots. His collection became the core of what is now known as the Kamikaze Letters. A lot of the letters are in this vein. They appear to confirm the view that a whole generation of Japanese men had been brainwashed in to self-abnegation and blind obedience to the Emperor. But there are others that show a minority of kamikaze pilots had not swallowed the propaganda, and even some that appear to reject Japan 's