'Using archive and interviews, 'The Day of the Kamikaze' explores how, during the battle for Okinawa, thousands of young Japanese men were persuaded to sacrifice their lives.'
The most moving part is seeing the interviews with the young men's families. These lads had no choice.
Just watched it; good documentary from a different angle. A good friend of mine is Japanese and his grandad was a soldier in Burma fighting the British. Those guys were as suicidal as the Kamikazes. The military leaders brainwashed the population and these pilots felt bound by country and then family. Surving brought shame to the family and country; only fair for the commander who sent out all to undertake the last ever mission.
It was heartbreaking to hear the stories told by the sisters of some of the lads. One told of her brother being allowed to phone home the night before his mission, and speaking one by one to members of his family. When it came to his mum's turn, she couldn't think of the right words, and simply said 'Son, it is time for you to go...' The sister says that years later her mum told her that she cried every single night for her boy and regretted what he had been made to do.
At the end of the programme we learned that Matome Ugaki, the admiral who invented the kamikaze strategy, died on his own suicide mission. This would have seemed an honourable thing to do, except that he did it after the war was over, and worst of all, he took 22 men with him. Unthinkable.
Yeah sad and cowardly from Matome Ugaki. He took 11 brainwashed men with him to the watery grave. It was most likely they were shot down or delibrately crashed into the sea.
