“Dearest Mother”: The Final Flight of Japan’s Teenage Kamikaze
Exhibited at the Chiran Peace Museum. Artist: Katsuyoshi Nakaya 【Title】 The Teenage Kamikaze Pilots: Remembering the "Yokaren" and the Bond with Their Mothers ■ Introduction Hello. The other day, I visited Makata Shrine in Narita City, Chiba Prefecture. This is the place where the famous "Hifumi Shinji" (revelations) were received. On my way back, as I was driving to neighboring Ibaraki Prefecture for work and passing through a town called Ami, a certain memory came back to me. It was about the Kamikaze Special Attack Corps, which I have been researching since around 2008. Ami Town in Ibaraki was once the site of the "Yokaren" (Naval Aviator Preparatory Course), where young boys aged 14 to 17 were trained with the expectation of joining the special attack units. My own great-uncle was one of these trainees, entering the corps and facing the end of the war just days before his scheduled sortie. Today, I want to write about these pure-hearted trainees who ...