Reflections on the Commemoration of the Kamikaze Pilots in Pearl Harbor and Chiran

Extract

On April 11, 2015, a special exhibition on Kamikaze pilots opened on the Battleship Missouri Memorial, which is berthed in Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, to commemorate the 70^th anniversary of the Kamikaze plane attack on the battleship during the Battle of Okinawa. The Missouri survived an April 11, 1945 kamikaze attack, which set fire to the starboard deck, and became the site of Japan's surrender on September 2 of the same year. Hitherto, no exhibition relating to the kamikaze has ever been held outside Japan, so it is of interest that this exhibition came to be held in the U.S., above all at the shrine to the American war in the Pacific, and how it has been received by American veterans and civilians. According to the Battleship Missouri Memorial's home page, the exhibition “offers a rare glimpse into the lives and final days of these young kamikaze pilots or Japanese tokkō tai (special attack forces) … Exhibit artifacts include farewell letters and poems (translated into English) from the pilots to family members and loved ones, personal photographs and information, historical images, and uniform items. The exhibit will be on display through November 11, Veterans Day.”