By Kirill Bulatov course: Cultural Diversit in the Modern World instructor: Leigh Rich WHO BECAME KAMIKAZE PILOTS, AND HOW DID THEY FEEL TOWARDS THEIR SUICIDE MISSION?
    Abstract
    This extended essay is about the Kamikaze pilots who made suicide attacks from the
    air during the Pacific War. This paper aims to find who the pilots really were and how
    they felt about their suicide mission. The hypothesis for the research was that any pilot
    could become a Kamikaze pilot, and that the pilots probably felt scared, yet took the
    responsibility to carry out their mission.
    Most of the investigations were made through primary sources. Since the Kamikaze
    attacks were made from bases in Kyushu, there are several museums there where
    information may be found. There, the actual letters and diaries that the pilots had left
    behind are displayed. Also, fifteen interviews with survivors of the attacks, relatives and
    other people related to the attacks were made. Since the Kamikaze attacks were made
    only fifty years ago, a great quantity of documents was available.
    The time period in concern is from early 1944 to 1945, and the topic being the
    Kamikaze pilots, and the region of research was within Japan, mainly Kyushu.
    The conclusion of this extended essay was that the pilots were ordinary, average young
    men of the time who volunteered, and that most felt that their dying in such a mission
    would improve the war situation for the Japanese. However, exactly how the pilots felt
    could not be fully understood by a student researching the topic fifty years after the
    actual attack.
    In blossom today, then scattered:
    Life is so like a delicate flower.
    How can one expect the fragrance
    To last for ever?
    --Admiral Onishi Takijiro
    Introduction
    During World War II in the Pacific, there were pilots of the Japanese Imperial Army
    and Navy who made suicide attacks, driving their planes to deliberately crash into
    carriers and battle- ships of the Allied forces. These were the pilots known as the
    Kamikaze pilots. This essay focuses on how they felt about their suicide mission.
    Because right-wing organizations have used the Kamikaze pilots as a symbol of a
    militaristic and extremely nationalistic Japan, the current Japanese respond to the issue
    with ignorance and false stereotypes and with generally negative and unsympathetic
    remarks. The aim of this essay is to reveal the often unknown truth concerning the
    pilots, and above all to give a clearer image as to who the pilots really were.
    The hypothesis behind the question, "Who were the Kamikaze pilots and how did they
    feel towards their suicide mission?" is that any pilot devoted to the country, who
    volunteered and was chosen felt scared, yet took the responsibility to carry out his
    mission.
    Part One
    The death of Emperor Taisho may be the point when Japan had started to become the
    fascist state that it was during the Pacific War. Although the military had been active
    ever since the Jiji period (1867-1912) in wars such as the Sino-Japanese War
    (1894-1895), and the Russo-Japanese War (1904-1905), it became extremely active
    when Crown Prince Hirohito became Emperor Showa. Coup d'etats became frequent,
    and several political figures were assassinated. By Emperor Showa's reign, the military
    had the real authority.[1]
    According to those who have lived through the early Showa period (1926-1945), the
    presence of Emperor Showa was like that of a god and he was more of a religious
    figure than a political one.[2] In many of the haiku that the Kamikaze pilots wrote, the
    Emperor is mentioned in the first line.
    Systematic and organized education made such efficient "brainwashing" possible. In
    public schools, students were taught to die for the emperor. By late 1944, a slogan of
    Jusshi Reisho meaning "Sacrifice life," was taught.[3]
    Most of the pilots who volunteered for the suicide attacks were those who were born
    late in the Taisho period (1912-1926) or in the first two or three years of Showa.
    Therefore, they had gone through the brainwashing education, and were products of
    the militaristic Japan.
    Censorship brought restrictions on the Japanese people. The letters, diaries, and
    photographs of individual soldiers were all censored. Nothing revealing where they
    were, or what they were doing concerning the military, could be communicated.[4]
    Major restrictions were placed on the press, radio and other media. ............