Kamikaze means divine wind in Japanese- honourable job
unquestionably die for emperor
They kept pictures of the emperor on them, as well as a samurai sword in the cockpit
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Volunteers
All were volunteers but not all were enthusiastic volunteers
You volunteered by being put in a room and asked who DIDN’T want to sacrifice themselves for the emperor- nobody wanted to be that guy
Others had cards with three options: I want to die for the emperor, I REALLY want to die for the emperor and I don’t. These were displayed so everyone could see your choice
What is very odd is that most people didn’t think about the enemy-they volunteered not out of hatred for the enemy but of love for the country and wanting to do what is right
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success
Only around 14% of trained kamikazes were successful, mostly because the war ended before they could be used
They didn’t want to waste new aircraft on instant destruction so they used increasingly old and unreliable ones- older than the pilots in most cases. You were allowed to duck out if your engine failed, which was actually very common
However failing your mission regardless of circumstance was deeply dishonourable
However, this leads to the question- is it braver to reach your goal or braver to turn back?
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