Kamikaze Argumentative Essay

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“Be resolved that honor is heavier than the mountains and death lighter than the feather.” The chilling words of Yasuo Kuwahara, a former kamikaze pilot, provide a glimpse into the mindset of the Japanese during one of the most dismal segments of World War II. For centuries, the Japanese customs and lifestyle revolved around the concept of honor, honing in on how to uphold and maintain it. The fear of ruining this balance of honor and wanting to die a glorious, radiant death, played a huge role in propelling the Japanese people to volunteer to pull off suicidal kamikaze attacks (Hollway 48). Putting the kamikaze concept into perspective by considering the background, understanding the significance they had in World War II, as well as pondering …show more content…

The near miss on Franklin was a win for the United States, but, the Japanese won a victory as well. Now, they had an infallible strategy that “the Americans could not roll off of assembly lines” (Hollway 49). Vice Admiral Takijiro Onishi was one of the men who revered this suicidal method (Hollway 48). With a great sense of urgency, Admiral Onishi moved to a base in Manila, and developed a plan for kamikaze attacks, proposing it to his men. He knew that the drastic nature of the plan revealed the many flaws in Japan’s previous strategies (Hollway 48). The plan stated the following, “that is to organize suicide attack units composed of fighters armed with 250-kilogram bombs, with each plane to crash-dive into an enemy carrier” (Hollway 48). With his procedure in mind, Onishi began to ask for volunteers (Hollway 48). All of the pilots in the base in Manila ended up volunteering to participate in Onishi’s kamikaze special attack units (Hollway 48). This elite unit, originally called the “shinpū” or “tokkō”, reverted back to its original title of “kamikaze.” It was named as such on behalf of the typhoons that had destroyed the Mongols, in the hopes that the United States would meet the same fate (“Kamikaze of 1274 and 1281”,Gordon …show more content…

Suicide had become a fad in Japan during World War II, it had been encouraged and compared to stunning things like flowers and snowflakes (BBC, Hollway 48). One Japanese soldier wrote an ominous poem, saying, “If only we might fall like cherry blossoms in the spring — So pure and radiant” (Morris). Death was embraced and compared to the simple delicateness of cherry blossoms. Beauty had become so skewed in the minds of the Japanese that committing suicide was considered the peak of elegance and heroism. Years passed by, and the perspective changed substantially. A poll conducted by Win/Gallup in 2015 revealed that in the post-war generations, only an alarming 11% of Japanese people would be ready and willing to die for their country (BBC). Today, the Japanese people acknowledge the bravery of the pilots, but are repulsed by the “rashness and stupidity” by which the kamikaze plans were executed

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