Portraits of kamikaze pilots are displayed at the Chiran Peace Museum on August 13, 2025 in Minamikyushu, Kagoshima Prefecture (Photo by Kotaro Chigira)

Eighty years ago, on August 15, Emperor Showa announced to the nation on the radio that Japan ended the war.

This was after the United States military dropped atomic bombs on Hiroshima on August 6 and Nagasaki on the 9th.

The Japanese government and military couldn’t determine whether to surrender and end the war. They thought that the Soviet Union, with whom they had signed a neutrality treaty, would intercede and bring the war to a better conclusion. On the 8th, the Soviet Union declared war on Japan and invaded Manchuria, far from mediating.

The careless judgment of Japan’s leaders brought enormous sacrifices both at home and abroad, and drove the country to ruin.

As the course of the war worsened, young people were sent out as kamikaze pilots, many of them teenagers. Over 6,300 pilots lost their lives. Eventually, the government announced a “100 million people’s total suicide attack,” calling on all citizens to be prepared to die for the country.

The people do not exist for the state. The state exists for the people. We will never again force young people to sacrifice their lives for the state.

Postwar Japan started anew, pledging to uphold sovereignty of the people and respect basic human rights.

However, that promise is wavering now.

Symbolic of this is the public support for the political party, Sanseito. In the Upper House of election, 7,425,053 people voted for Sanseito through proportional representation, giving it the third highest vote share after the Liberal Democratic Party and the Democratic Party for the People.

Sanseito viewed the kamikaze pilots as “heroes” and made the following appeal:

“Before Japan is destroyed any further, it is our turn as ordinary citizens to fight next.”

This is similar to the “100 million people’s total suicide attack” campaign during the war. In fact, Representative Sohei Kamiya said the following about the war 80 years ago:

“Japan could have continued the war even after the atomic bombing.”

Japan is returning to the “ultranationalism” of the wartime period. It is a society dominated by pressure to conform, where rulers and citizens are united in a frenzy. The heat will not die down until it is destroyed.

The kamikaze pilots were not “heroes.” They were “victims” of those in power and a society driven by conformity pressure. Glorifying the past and portraying them as heroes is simply a way for those who sent out the pilots to avoid accountability.

We must never allow anyone to die like the kamikaze pilots. Only by doing so can we, who live in the modern age, atone for their deaths.

Tome Torihama’s Surprise

The “Firefly Hall Tomiya Dining Room”, a replica of the Tomiya Shokudo, a restaurant frequented by many kamikaze pilots. (Photo by Kotaro Chigira on August 13, 2025, in Minamikyushu City, Kagoshima Prefecture)

The kamikaze pilots who took off from Chiran Air Base in Kagoshima Prefecture called Tome Torihama their “mother.” She ran the Tomiya Shokudo, a restaurant in Chiran and was close with the pilots.

The two-story wooden Tomiya Shokudo has been restored to its original appearance and is now a museum, displaying photographs and memoirs of the kamikaze pilots who gathered there.

On August 13, just before the end of the war, many parents and children visited the museum. Visitors’ impressions are recorded in notebooks provided in the museum.

“I was moved.”

“Thanks to the kamikaze pilots, Japan is peaceful today.”

“We will take back Japan”

Tome passed away in 1992 at the age of 89. The museum has a video of her interview. She stated she was surprised by the words of one of the kamikaze pilots.

Ryoji Uehara was born in Nagano Prefecture and studied economics at Keio University, but was drafted into the kamikaze unit.

One day, Ryoji, who had a bushy beard, said to Tome at Tomiya Shokudo:

“Japan will lose.”

Tome was surprised, because Ryoji was the only one among the kamikaze pilots who would say such a thing.

It would be a serious problem if the military police found out that he was saying, “Japan cannot win.” “If you say something like that, you’ll be taken away by the military police,” she told him, but Ryoji didn’t care.

“It’s okay, I’m going to die anyway.”

“Next time I’m born, I want to be born in America.”

Why did Ryoji Uehara say, “Japan will lose”?

A clue lies in a notebook left behind by Ryoji’s sister, Kiyoko.

On May 1, 1945, Kiyoko went to visit Ryoji at Chofu Airfield in Tokyo. During that visit, she overheard a conversation between kamikaze pilots. She found the content of the conversation intriguing, so she wrote it down in her notebook.

“Oh, I was fooled. The name “special training” sounded good. Next time I’m born, I want to be born in America.”

“I wonder what they think over there.”

“They’re probably saying, ‘look, some idiots have come again today’ and laugh at us for coming all the way to a place like this just to commit suicide.”

Nine days after Kiyoko’s visit, Ryoji wrote a memoir the night before his departure. He entrusted it to war correspondent Toshiro Takagi, who visited Ryoji’s house and delivered it to his surviving family. This was before the end of the war. The memoir described Ryoji’s beliefs as “liberal.”

When I think about it, based on the principle of the omnipotence of theory that I gained over my long years as a student, which I could call my belief, I think that the victory of freedom is clear, even though this may make me seem like a liberal.

 

Freedom, which is the essence of human nature, can never be destroyed; even if it appears to be suppressed, deep down it is constantly fighting and will ultimately prevail… Fascist Italy and Nazi Germany have also already been defeated, and now authoritarian states are collapsing one after another, like buildings with their foundations demolished.

 

A friend of mine once said that the pilots of the kamikaze unit in the sky were nothing more than machines. Machines that handled the controls, without personality or emotion, and of course without reason; they were merely iron molecules in a magnet drawn to enemy aircraft carriers. If you think about it rationally, it’s truly unthinkable, and if you really think about it, you might call them suicides, as they say.

 

Once on an airplane, we are merely machines, but once we disembark, we are still human beings, with emotions and passions. When my beloved partner died, I died spiritually with her. When I think of the person waiting for me in heaven, and of meeting her there, death is nothing more than a journey to heaven. Tomorrow is the day to set sail. This is a radical statement, and of course it should not have been made public, yet the above is my honest feeling. Tomorrow, a liberal will depart this world. Even though he seems sad, deep down, his heart is filled with satisfaction.

 

I said as much as I wanted to say. Please forgive my rudeness. Good bye.

How did the suicide attack begin?

Japan began the war with a surprise attack on Pearl Harbor in Hawaii in December 1941. However, six months later, in June 1942, Japan was defeated in the Battle of Midway, and the situation reversed.

As the war situation worsened, the Navy came up with plans for a suicide attack. In June 1943, Colonel Eiichiro Jo suggested a “Ramming” to Vice Admiral Takijiro Onishi. Although Vice Admiral Onishi did not approve, the proposal continued to be made within the Navy.

In October 1944, U.S. military landed on Leyte Island in the Philippines. The Navy finally organized its first special attack unit, the “Shinpu (Kamikaze) Special Attack Unit,” and carried out the operation. Vice Admiral Onishi was in command.

After the U.S. military landed on Okinawa in March 1945, the Army also began full-scale suicide operations. The Army’s kamikaze units launched their attacks from the Chiran base.

“Fine young men were killed in a suicide unit”

After the war, former kamikaze pilot Hiromitsu Kawasaki spoke to Toshiro Takagi, a war correspondent in Chiran, about the contradictions of suicide operations.

The team members were left with an unresolved question: “Is it really necessary to ram the plane?” All they had to do was hit the target with the bomb, so why sacrifice the pilot? One person can only ram the plane once, but can drop a bomb multiple times. What’s more, there are not enough pilots. It would also lose the planes. As a tactic, it just seemed contradictory.

However, rational thinking was ignored. The aircrafts were outdated. Most of the kamikaze planes were unable to achieve their objectives and were shot down by the U.S. military.

Vice Admiral Onishi himself called the kamikaze attacks “an evil way of command.” He committed seppuku (disembowelment) on August 16, 1945. On his last night, he said the following to a friend:

“No matter how much you think it’s for the sake of your country or that you can’t lose, I killed some fine young men in a suicide unit, and I can’t be saved. I’ll fall into an eternal hell.”

In his suicide note, he wrote, “I wish to express my apology to the heroic spirits of my former subordinates and their families through my death.”

Kamikaze pilots having their last meal before their mission at Chiran Air Base (Photo provided by Chiran Peace Museum)

Newspapers hyped it as “the pinnacle of sublimity”

It is journalism’s role to stop the abuse of power.

However, the media at the time hyped up the suicide missions and excited public opinion.

The first kamikaze unit, the “Shinpu Special Attack Unit,” took off from the Philippines on October 25, 1944. The Asahi Shimbun reported the story on its front page on October 29.

The headline read, “The Divine Eagle’s Loyalty Shines Forever.” The paper praised the suicide uperation as “the most sublime tactic of warfare,” and even carried the following editorial on the front page:

“In terms of the proclamation from the Commander-in-Chief of the Combined Fleet regarding a member of the Kamikaze Special Attack Force, Shikishima, we are overcome with deep emotion and know only to kneel in obeisance to the spirit of this divine eagle, a heroic and loyal warrior.”

“It is a fighting spirit that is desperate, sure to hit the target, and even sure to kill. With this, the war will be won. The Divine Land will be protected and preserved.”

“We want to look up at the high spirits of the martyrs who did not expect to return alive.”

Other media outlets also praised the kamikaze pilots, and the public began to worship them as “god of war.”

The Asahi Shimbun in 1944 praising the kamikaze pilots

Upon returning, they were told, “You are human trash”

Although the public worshipped the kamikaze pilots as “gods of war,” they were still human beings. Many of them were teenage boys. The pilots were given an Army-issued “Top Secret Operation Manual for Kamikaze Pilots” as part of the military’s attempt to discipline them. For instance, the following passages were included in it:

・Your life is 25 years, this is your last strength. Use your divine power.

・You’ll be caught by the target if your eyes are shut. Keep your eyes open.

・Call out “Death!” and strike down

Some of the members of the unit had to return without reaching their destination due to reasons such as aircraft malfunctions. A “mental transformation” awaited them.

The “Shinbu Ryo” dormitory, which was requisitioned from Fukuoka Jogakuin, a girls’ school, was used to isolate the returning kamikaze pilots. The military was concerned about the eyes of the general public, who worshipped the pilots as war gods. They also worried that the resolution of the pilots about to go on a mission would waver if they saw the returning pilots.

Their superiors would come every morning at 6:30 and beat them with bamboo swords, saying, “You guys who returned alive have no right to eat!” and “Why did you guys come back? You’re human trash.” They were forced to write letters of apology and copy out the Imperial Rescript to Soldiers and Sailors while sitting upright. Some soldiers even committed suicide with a gun.

Kamikaze pilots were subject to censorship when they wrote letters to their family members and loved ones. Although they included lines that expressed love for loved ones, loyalty to the Emperor, and the prestige of being a kamikaze pilot, they were not permitted to write any criticism of the unfair operations.

Nevertheless, some letters delivered through acquaintances and diaries collected after the war contain the true feelings of the kamikaze pilots.

Shin Hasegawa, who was killed in action in Okinawa on April 12, 1945, wrote in his diary three months earlier:

Man has not progressed a bit since he created the world.

 

In this war, there is no longer any question of justice, but simply an explosion of ethnic hatred.

 

The opposing nations will not stop themselves until each is destroyed.

 

How frightening, how despicable.

 

Humankind, kin of the monkeys.

The death throes of the “100 million people’s total suicide attack”

No matter how many kamikaze pilots were deployed, the war situation only worsened. Organized combat in Okinawa ended on June 23, 1945. On that day, the Volunteer Military Service Law was enacted.

The Volunteer Military Service Act mobilized men between the ages of 15 and 60 and women between the ages of 17 and 40 into the “Volunteer Fighting Corps.” They aimed to continue fighting against the U.S. military under the slogan “100 million people’s total suicide attack.”

The Imperial General Headquarters created a manual for the Volunteer Fighting Corps called “National Resistance Manual.” It was absurd.

For example, in “Our Deadly Fighting Methods,” it writes, “The self-destruction is the essence of the fighting style that the Imperial Army is proud of to the world,” and gives the following instructions:

“The best way to fight a tall Yankee in close combat is to thrust.”

“Even without swords or spears, sickles, hatchets, hammers, kitchen knives, and hire hooks are all excellent surprise weapons.”

“If you get into a fight, you can lower yourself down and poke the pit of the stomach or kick the testicles of an enemy attacking from above.”

“We will demonstrate martial arts such as judo and karate that are unique to our country.”

“In all of these cases, victory can only be achieved by throwing oneself into the fray.”

The war ended on August 15, less than two months after the Volunteer Military Service Act was promulgated.

Tansa will also examine the harm done in invaded and colonized areas

Japan’s war also resulted in many casualties in the countries and colonies it invaded.

Today, distortion of history and xenophobia against foreigners are rampant in Japanese society. Tansa will resist these trends and look into Japan’s past aggression as well as the war damage suffered domestically. We will do our best to report on these issues and publish them as they arise.

Sources (In order of appearance)

The Public Interest Foundation of the Special Attack Forces War Dead Memorial Association(2nd ed.). (2020). The Complete History of the Special Attack Forces. The Public Interest Foundation of the Special Attack Forces War Dead Memorial Association.

Chiran Special Attack Memorial Association & Chiran Peace Museum. (Eds.)(3rd ed.). (2021). Record of the Soul. Chiran Peace Museum.

Minoru Hokari. (Ed.). (2013). New Edition: Shade on Mt. Ariake. Association for Preserving the Light of Ryoji Uehara.

Japan War Memorial Student Association. (Ed.). (1995). New Edition: Voices from the Sea. Iwanami Shoten.

Takagi Toshiro. (2025). Special Attack Base Chiran. KADOKAWA.

Mori Shiro. (2006). What is a Special Attack? Bungeishunju.

Masao Fujita & Jiro Sayama. (2024). “National Resistance Manual,” “Building Fortifications,” and “The Battle for the Japanese Homeland Order.” Ushio Shobo Kojin Shinsha.

Kenichiro Onuki & Ko Watanabe. (2018). The Shinbu Dormitory of the Special Attack Force: The Returning Soldiers Saw Hell. Asahi Shimbun Publications.

Eida Hayashi. (2007). Army Special Attack Force – Shinbu Dormitory: A Facility for Detaining Survivors. Toho Publishing.

War History Series. National Institute for Defense Studies.

A Family’s Modernity and War. (2025). Fukuzawa Yukichi Memorial of Keio History Museum, Tokyo.

The Wada-tsumi no Koe Memorial Hall, Tokyo.

Chiran Peace Museum, Kagoshima Prefecture.

Firefly Museum Tomiya Shokudo, Kagoshima Prefecture.

Sohei Kamiya (2024). Sanseito Drill. Seirindo.

Sanseito. https://sanseito.jp/

(Originally published in Japanese on August 15, 2025. Translation by Mana Shibata.)

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