Actually, there are/were a few surviving Kamikaze pilots. The ones who were still training when the war ended, had engine trouble and turned back, etc. I’m pretty sure none of the “successful” ones are still around. I’d think a battle between WW2-type Japanese and the Taliban/AlQueada would be very interesting. My money would be on the Japanese. I never heard of a Japanese soldier dressing up in a kimono to avoid capture.
For the record- I am in fully favor of the US giving both Japan and Israel one big “We got your back!” and letting them swing into full gear.
For the most part, I like to think that Japan has little to no ill-feelings towards the US remaining. If we could just de-pansy England and it’s various allied nations, I think it would become a very much more stable planet.
War would still be sure to happen eventually, but it would be after years of great competition and advancement with next to no squeek from the terrorists in the middle east and the communists in the far east.
When I was 12, I met a Kamakazi. The war ended the day before he was to fly his mission. At the time I met him, he was a bigwig on the Japanese national railroad and was here studying the American railroad.
He told me the day before the war ended his best friend flew his own mission and that prior to taking off had cut off his left hand pinky finger and given it to him to remember him by. He said it was in a shrine at his home to that day.
You can call the Japanese soldiers during the WW2 era a lot of things: brutal, ruthless, heartless, patriotic, etc., but they were not cowards and they never ran away from a fight unless you call committing suicide by Seppuku (aka hara-kiri) cowardly!