>The diaries of these young men offer eloquent testimony that contradicts both the stereotype held outside of Japan and the propaganda circulated by the Japanese military: that tokkōtai pilots died happily for the emperor. Some, like Sasaki Hachirō and Hayashi Tadao, rejected and defied the emperor-centered ideology outright. Others tried to accept it but were unable to do so. As Hayashi Ichizō put it: “There must be some peace of mind for dedicating my life to the emperor. . . . To be honest, I cannot say that the wish to die for the emperor is genuine, coming from my heart. However, it is decided for me that I die for the emperor.”
>Having no choice except to go through with their assigned mission, the tokkōtai pilots reproduced the imperialist ideology in action while refusing or failing to embrace it in thought.
*Don’t know if comparing the actions of uniformed military personnel attacking military targets with those of current day civilian terrorist attacking soft civilian targets is a valid comparison.*
Regardless, I wouldn’t use the adjective ‘brave’ to describe the actions of either group.
Danjv1234
Surely the fact that it is his last mission is implied.
tele-caster-blast3r
“Gonna smash myself into an American ship, better make sure I have my life vest and side arm.”
GeorgeHill1911
I’m guessing it was his first Kamikaze mission too.
moniquemagique
I would love to see the original image, the colorization on this one is distractingly bad.
Lector_is_a_Bitch
Why does it seem like these guys were brave but terrorist that blow themselves up aren’t Brave? Or are the kamikazes just as lame?
NizzoVicko
Why is he carrying a pistol though?
UnoKitty
[Kamikaze Diaries](http://press.uchicago.edu/Misc/Chicago/619508.html)
>The diaries of these young men offer eloquent testimony that contradicts both the stereotype held outside of Japan and the propaganda circulated by the Japanese military: that tokkōtai pilots died happily for the emperor. Some, like Sasaki Hachirō and Hayashi Tadao, rejected and defied the emperor-centered ideology outright. Others tried to accept it but were unable to do so. As Hayashi Ichizō put it: “There must be some peace of mind for dedicating my life to the emperor. . . . To be honest, I cannot say that the wish to die for the emperor is genuine, coming from my heart. However, it is decided for me that I die for the emperor.”
>Having no choice except to go through with their assigned mission, the tokkōtai pilots reproduced the imperialist ideology in action while refusing or failing to embrace it in thought.
*Don’t know if comparing the actions of uniformed military personnel attacking military targets with those of current day civilian terrorist attacking soft civilian targets is a valid comparison.*
Regardless, I wouldn’t use the adjective ‘brave’ to describe the actions of either group.
Danjv1234
Surely the fact that it is his last mission is implied.
tele-caster-blast3r
“Gonna smash myself into an American ship, better make sure I have my life vest and side arm.”
GeorgeHill1911
I’m guessing it was his first Kamikaze mission too.
moniquemagique
I would love to see the original image, the colorization on this one is distractingly bad.