About a year and half ago, back in July of 2014, I wrote a blog titled "Boy Soldier 2." In it, I explained briefly how the Japanese during their desperate hours of World War Two formed the "Special Attack Units" called Tokkubetsu Kokkekitai, shortened to tokkotai. This unit or members of this unit were popularly referred to outside of Japan as the kamikaze, the Divine Wind.
The tokkotai or kamikaze pilots were portrayed in Japan during the war as heroic, honorable warriors, while in the West they were seen as wild-eyed, suicidal maniacs. As in all things, truth is sometimes somewhere in between, or as in this case, quite different from common perception. To be sure, there were zealots who were almost anxious to go to their death for the Emperor, but those were in the tiny minority. There are always the eager, "gung-ho" types in any military and Japan had its share. But the vast majority were not the zealots. They were high school and college aged young men who were coerced or duped to "volunteer" into tokkotai.
Those of you who know something of Japanese culture are aware that it is a culture that is driven by conformity, conformity to what the society dictates. The old Japanese proverb, "a nail that sticks out invites a hammer" perhaps best describes Japanese thoughts on conformity. Japanese children are allowed to more or less run wild (by Western standards) when they are very young. But once they start school, they are put in uniform and are taught to toe the line. Only one more time are they allowed to exercise their freedom of thought and behavior, and that is during their university years. That is why all of the radical movements like the zengakuren, all originated in universities. However, once they leave the university, magically they are transformed to law abiding, society conforming members. It is interesting to see the transformation of someone who was a wild-eyed, leftist, radical member of zengakuren while at school, transform into a conservative, dark suit wearing "sararimahn" (salary man) upon leaving school. Times have changed and the Japanese have changed. But back in the day, especially before World War Two, you would have been hard pressed to find a real Japanese hippy, a non-conformist! There were no doubt a few here and there, but not like in the West!
In Snap Shots there is a story, Chapter 3, entitled "The Boy Soldier." It is about a man that I befriended when I lived on Okinawa, in Camp Chinen. Although he lived on Okinawa and was married to an Okinawan woman, he was originally from naichi, the mainland Japan. He came to Okinawa shortly after the end of the war and decided to stay because, in his words, he had nothing left in Japan. His entire family had perished during the war. He got a job working in a small bowling alley in Camp Chinen, it only had four lanes! He became a manager of the bowling alley and I met him and befriended him. His name was Moriyama, although I changed it slightly for the story in Snap Shots to Murayama. I changed all the names of the characters in that story, so changing his name was just part of it.
One day while visiting with him in his tiny office, I learned that Moriyama (his real name!) had been in the Japanese Imperial Navy during the war. After talking to him more about his wartime experience, to my great surprise I learned that he had been a kamikaze pilot, a tokkotai! His story was that in the final year of the war, when Japan was desperate, he was drafted into service straight out of high school! He was all of 15 years old at the time, but he was already an accomplished glider pilot, having flown gliders since he was 13. His school had para military training and glider training was part of it. So he was drafted into the Imperial Navy and sent to flight school. After he completed flight training on a single engine aircraft, he and his classmates were offered the "opportunity" to join the Special Attack Unit, the tokkotai! They really had no idea what it was, although some suspected that it was for suicide duty! He told me in detail how they were "selected" to "volunteer!"
An assembly of all new pilots was held at a huge hall where patriotic martial music was blaring over the loudspeakers. Then beginning with the Commanding Officer, various patriotic speeches were made. Finally, everyone was told to stand at attention, then an announcement was made that Japan was seeking volunteers for the Special Attack Unit. Anyone who did not wish to volunteer was to step forward of the assembly and stand to the side. Can you imagine anyone from a society such as Japanese, teenagers in particular, who would break the mold and step forward in such a case? Surprisingly, Moriyama said that there were few, who knew what it was all about, chose to step forward. They were ostracized, brutalized by the cadre and their own former comrades. Some were killed, others just disappeared!
Moriyama said that after they "volunteered," they went through some brutal training process which was nothing but harassment by psychopathic cadre members. They were beaten regularly and told to do all sorts of cruel and unpleasant tasks. Finally that phase of training stopped and they were put back into planes to make sure they could still fly!
Moriyama was stationed at a secret naval base in southern Japan, Kyushu. In April, when the battle of Okinawa raged, squadron after squadron from that base was dispatched never to return. For some reason, Moriyama's squadron was never sent. He said that no one, not one man (or boy!) in his unit wanted to die. They were forbidden to write letters home, for they were at a secret base, so many simply wrote letters that were never sent! There were two groups, the high school aged tokkotai were called "boy soldiers" while the older, college age pilots were called "student soldiers." There were no career army or navy pilots! They were too valuable to be wasted like that!
He said he was relieved when the war ended and he never had to face death. They simply sent the young boys home on their own. Moriyama's family was in Hiroshima. When he got to the ruined city, he discovered that everyone in his family had perished, even members of the extended family. He was all of sixteen years old! But he was fortunate in that he had attended one of the better "higher" schools in Japan. One of the requirements at that school was for students to learn at least two foreign languages. Moriyama chose English and German. So, with his basic knowledge of English he was able to get a job with the US Occupation Forces. A year or so later he got a job on a ship that carried supplies to Okinawa. On one of those trips he decided to stay on the island and that is how he ended up on Okinawa.
As I mentioned in the story, Moriyama's best friend was an American who worked in Camp Chinen. I changed the American's name, but he really did exist and, I am afraid, just as I described him in the story, he was a drunk. But, he was an awfully kind soul and considered Moriyama to be his best friend. Harry, as I called him in the story, was a G.I. bulldozer operator who upon discharge from the Army got a job as a civilian contractor for the government. He was sent to Okinawa shortly after the war and he initially was involved in the building of Camp Chinen, so he knew everyone, all the Okinawan employees at the camp. He had a Okinawan common-law wife and lived just outside of Camp Chinen at the village called Oyakibaru by the fire station. They made a strange pair, Harry the somewhat loud hillbilly from West Virginia and the rather quiet, Moriyama. But, as I said, they were the best of friends and totally loyal to each other.
I always thought that it was a bit odd that Moriyama, who supposedly was ready and willing to give his life for the Emperor and Japan, possibly plunge his plane at Americans, was best friends with an American! But then, by his own admission, Moriyama was not eager or willing to die. However, the pressures of the Japanese society are such that if called upon, he would have flown his plane to his death.
I asked Moriyama if he would have gone to his death if ordered by his superiors and he said yes, he would have. I asked him why, and he looked at me like I was stupid or something and said, because at the time, it was his duty to do so! It really made an impression on me and I have never forgotten those words. Duty was something one did not take lightly, not in Moriyama's world, even if you didn't agree with the cause!
After I left Okinawa, I returned four years later. I called the bowling alley in Camp Chinen but someone else answered the phone and said that Moriyama did not work there anymore. He had apparently moved on to a bigger and better job. He was now the manager of a much larger bowling alley in what used to be called Machinato Troop Area. I went to visit him and we had a very nice get together. There was at the time quite a bit of talk about reversion to Japan and Moriyama was against it. I was surprised, because he was not an Okinawan, I assumed he would be all for the reversion. But having married an Okinawan and lived on the island all these years, he was completely pro Okinawa and said that reversion would simply make Okinawa what it was before the war, the poorest prefecture in Japan! He was right.
No comments:
Post a Comment