Blossoms In The Wind - Human Legacies Of The Kamikaze

Description

A compelling chronicle of men whose greatest desire was to die as warriors-and the legacy that still haunts those whose destinies were never fulfilled. In the last days of World War II, the Japanese unleashed a new breed of warrior-the Kamikaze, idealistic young men who believed there could be no greater glory than to sacrifice their lives in suicide attacks to defend their homeland. But what of those men who took the sacred oath to die-and lived? Soon after 9/11, ethnographer M.G. Sheftall was given unprecedented access to the cloistered community of Japan's last remaining Kamikaze corps survivors. The result is a poignant and unforgettable glimpse into the lives and mindsets of former Kamikaze pilots who never completed their final missions.========Review:Let us never forget the human struggles that history has taught us in the Pacific War: From the attack on Pearl Harbor to the aftermath of the atomic bomb. M.G. Sheftall takes a bold step to record the personal stories and views of the pilots of the infamous tokko program more popularly known as "kamikaze" to the West. This is a topic that is much taboo as it is revered in Japan. It's a topic that only a non-Japanese can research, for it would be "academic suicide" for any Japanese to partake. Sheftall does a great job of giving a non-biased story, and explains in painstaking detail to the Western reader what went through the hearts of the men and women in the tokko program. Several passages brought tears to my eyes. Japanese poetry and Haiku, personal letters, actual newpaper translations and such are scattered throughout the book. There are also about 15 pages worth of black and white pictures. Sheftall doesn't justify the tokko program, but he convinces you that any soldier willing to fight for their country has the same fire burning in their hearts. He asks the question at the end: Does the fighting spirit that made Japan a World power still exist in the modern Japanese?