Posted on 04/14/2014 11:57:40 AM PDT by Saint X
A film about kamikaze pilots has been playing to packed theaters from Hokkaido to Kyushu since its release in December of 2013, becoming one of the top-grossing Japanese productions of all time. In addition to attracting the admiration of Prime Minster Shinzo Abe, “The Eternal Zero” has drawn a fair amount of criticism for being the latest in a string of recent films that mythologize the Japanese role in World War II.
(Excerpt) Read more at news.usni.org ...
When Hitler read account of the Rape of Nanking he thought his ally was being unnecessarily cruel to the Chinese. Wow, if Hitler thinks you are being cruel then look out.
Perhaps not...allow me to offer a different context. It's possible that many of those visiting were there to offer thanks to the American liberators. In the aftermath of WWII, America fed and rebuilt Europe.
During my tour in Germany, I heard many stories from Germans who remembered the kindness of Americans, and they wanted me to know America's sacrifice would not be forgotten.
I wonder if the movie shows how the IJN and Japanese Army Air Force used psychological pressure to obtain ‘volunteers’ for kamikaze units? Because that’s fairly well documented from among the ‘survivors’ (pilots who didn’t actually fly a mission). I only mention that because the enthusiasm for the mission was not universal.
“There were dead Americans below our feet. They were killed in a sneak attack and possibly by the fathers and grandfathers of the people standing in the line with us.”
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I know,I’ve been there.
“Possibly by the fathers and grandfathers-——”. So what? It’s in the past. The war has been over for 69 years.
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Did they actually see the movie?
Or did they just assume it was President Obama's life story?
The Japanese visit Pearl Harbor to see the site of their greatest victory. As for the Kamakazis—Japan’s air planes were so bad that most were shot out of the sky —the Kamaizai tactics were one of the few ways a pilot could make his loss count for something. For many it was a logical choice. In the 1950s, I read that American Pilots were to crash there fighters into Soviet Nuclear bombers before they could reach American Cities—would they have done it—I believe they would.
Dad, not being restrained by Asian nationality differences, named a hypothetical surviving kamikaze pilot in a joke, ‘chicken chowmein’.
Of course dad fought against the Japanese on Guadalcanal and Bougainville. So he pretty much had the right to say it anyway he wanted. Later in life he bought a Toyota. I guess the price was right.
That’s funny, I remember being dragged in to watch “French Lieutenants Woman” and wanted to kill myself afterward...
A person can be “glass is half empty” in situations like this one.
People refer to it as a “memorial” however, what many people don’t realize, is that it is actually a cemetery that contains the remains well over 1000 servicemen who were never interred.
So, as an American, there are plenty of emotions while touring the exhibit. Anger and resentment and sadness and appreciation, just to name a few. And I was born well after WWII.
If you haven’t been, you should see it. It is very unique.
Yup. Desperation will drive people to take extreme actions.
Heck, I might even fly a plane into a nuke that was headed for my city if I knew that it might save my family.
Interesting. “So what?”
They died for you bub.
And if the war had turned out differently, your future might be very differently.
But “so what.”
That is the main criticism of The Eternal Zero - that the pilots are portrayed as volunteers acting out of duty, not as young kids who were told that they would be a disgrace to their families if they did not die
But wasn't that a movie about the Korean War?
chick flicks. you go to see these for a different reason than the movie.
you either try during the movie.....or you hope for a reward later.
back in HS, 48-52 years ago, I got drug to the theater to see Dr. Zhivago and Gone With The Wind(a 25 year old re-release) by a redhead who never heard the 'redheads are oversexed' chestnut....I still don't know nothin’ bout birthin’ no babies....and in those days you were lucky to get to second base....
The USAF pilots flying cover over NYC immediately after 9/11 were flying unarmed aircraft. Their orders were to
(somehow) disable any other aircraft that didn’t answer challenges in the closed airspace over Ground Zero. The orders left the details up to the pilots as to how to accomplish that mission & survive.
Bluto: What? Over? Did you say “over”? Nothing is over until we decide it is! Was it over when the Germans bombed Pearl Harbor? Hell no!
Otter: Germans?
Boon: Forget it, he’s rolling.
For heaven’s sake, I didn’t disrespect those that died that day.
We’re discussing tourists visiting a memorial,tourists that the Hawaiian economy encourages.
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Or to starve on bypassed islands after we had moved past and stopped their logistics.
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