{"id":13288,"date":"2015-05-04T18:53:31","date_gmt":"2015-05-05T04:53:31","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.debito.org\/?p=13288"},"modified":"2015-05-10T14:06:39","modified_gmt":"2015-05-11T00:06:39","slug":"japan-times-jbc-87-may-4-2015-interview-with-m-g-sheftall-japan-u-s-effort-to-tell-kamikaze-suicide-pilots-stories-dodges-controversy-wins-praise","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.debito.org\/?p=13288","title":{"rendered":"Japan Times JBC 87 May 4, 2015: Interview with M.G. Sheftall: “Japan-U.S. effort to tell Kamikaze suicide pilots\u2019 stories dodges controversy, wins praise”"},"content":{"rendered":"

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Hello Blog. Here’s the opening to my\u00a0latest Japan Times JUST BE CAUSE column. There will be a longer version containing the whole hourlong interview with Dr. Sheftall\u00a0out in a few days. Dr. ARUDOU, Debito<\/p>\n

\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/<\/p>\n

\"justbecauseicon.jpg\"<\/a><\/p>\n

THE JAPAN TIMES: ISSUES | JUST BE CAUSE<\/strong>
\n Japan-U.S. effort to tell suicide pilots\u2019 stories dodges controversy, wins praise<\/strong>
\n BY DR. DEBITO ARUDOU. MAY 3, 2015<\/strong>
\nhttp:\/\/www.japantimes.co.jp\/community\/2015\/05\/03\/issues\/japan-u-s-effort-tell-suicide-pilots-stories-dodges-controversy-wins-praise\/<\/a><\/p>\n

Dr. M.G. Sheftall, professor of modern Japanese history at Shizuoka University and author of \u201cBlossoms in the Wind: Human Legacies of the Kamikaze<\/a>,\u201d was in Honolulu last month for the dedication of a temporary exhibition about the Tokk\u014d kamikaze suicide pilots aboard the battleship USS Missouri<\/a>, the site of Japan\u2019s surrender at the end of World War II. JBC sat down for an interview with Dr. Sheftall about the kamikaze phenomenon and what makes this exhibition unique.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

Q: So, what\u2019s going on here?<\/strong><\/p>\n

You\u2019ve witnessed something very historic, because the exhibit is the first about any kind of Japanese military activity in the modern era ever held outside of Japan with Japanese cooperation \u2014 in this case, with the Chiran Peace Museum on the kamikaze in southern Kyushu.<\/em><\/p>\n

What makes the USS Missouri an especially relevant venue is that it is to my knowledge only one of two still-existing ships \u2014 the other being the USS Intrepid \u2014 that were actually hit by kamikaze during the war. The USS Missouri was hit on April 12, 1945, exactly 70 years ago.<\/em><\/p>\n

There\u2019s a feel-good aspect to this story \u2014 very hard to do when you\u2019re talking about kamikaze attacks. The bomb on the plane that hit the Missouri did not detonate. The wreckage spilled onto the deck and amidst that was the pilot\u2019s remains. When the crew was putting out the fire, the initial reaction had been to hose his remains off the deck. But the captain of the USS Missouri, William Callaghan, announced to the crew: \u201cNo, we\u2019re going to give him a proper military burial. Now that he\u2019s dead, he\u2019s not the enemy anymore. He\u2019s just another human being, like you and me, who died for his country.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n

The next day the crew formed on deck to consign their fallen former enemy to the depths with full naval honors. They even made a Japanese flag shroud from old unused signal flags.<\/em><\/p>\n

I think that\u2019s a nice story. If there can be some recognition of humanity even in such circumstances, that shows hope for human beings in an otherwise insane and irrational situation dominated by hatred and fear.<\/em><\/p>\n

Q: How many ships were sunk in the kamikaze campaigns? …<\/strong><\/p>\n

\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/<\/p>\n

Rest of the article up at http:\/\/www.japantimes.co.jp\/community\/2015\/05\/03\/issues\/japan-u-s-effort-tell-suicide-pilots-stories-dodges-controversy-wins-praise\/<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Feel free to comment below. \u00a0Dr. ARUDOU, Debito<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

THE JAPAN TIMES: ISSUES | JUST BE CAUSE
\nJapan-U.S. effort to tell suicide pilots\u2019 stories dodges controversy, wins praise
\nBY DR. DEBITO ARUDOU. MAY 3, 2015
\nhttp:\/\/www.japantimes.co.jp\/community\/2015\/05\/03\/issues\/japan-u-s-effort-tell-suicide-pilots-stories-dodges-controversy-wins-praise\/<\/p>\n

Dr. M.G. Sheftall, professor of modern Japanese history at Shizuoka University and author of \u201cBlossoms in the Wind: Human Legacies of the Kamikaze,\u201d was in Honolulu last month for the dedication of a temporary exhibition about the Tokk\u014d kamikaze suicide pilots aboard the battleship USS Missouri, the site of Japan\u2019s surrender at the end of World War II. JBC sat down for an interview with Dr. Sheftall about the kamikaze phenomenon and what makes this exhibition unique.<\/p>\n

Q: So, what\u2019s going on here?<\/p>\n

You\u2019ve witnessed something very historic, because the exhibit is the first about any kind of Japanese military activity in the modern era ever held outside of Japan with Japanese cooperation \u2014 in this case, with the Chiran Peace Museum on the kamikaze in southern Kyushu.<\/p>\n

What makes the USS Missouri an especially relevant venue is that it is to my knowledge only one of two still-existing ships \u2014 the other being the USS Intrepid \u2014 that were actually hit by kamikaze during the war. The USS Missouri was hit on April 12, 1945, exactly 70 years ago.<\/p>\n

There\u2019s a feel-good aspect to this story \u2014 very hard to do when you\u2019re talking about kamikaze attacks. The bomb on the plane that hit the Missouri did not detonate. The wreckage spilled onto the deck and amidst that was the pilot\u2019s remains. When the crew was putting out the fire, the initial reaction had been to hose his remains off the deck. But the captain of the USS Missouri, William Callaghan, announced to the crew: \u201cNo, we\u2019re going to give him a proper military burial. Now that he\u2019s dead, he\u2019s not the enemy anymore. He\u2019s just another human being, like you and me, who died for his country.\u201d<\/p>\n

The next day the crew formed on deck to consign their fallen former enemy to the depths with full naval honors. They even made a Japanese flag shroud from old unused signal flags.<\/p>\n

I think that\u2019s a nice story. If there can be some recognition of humanity even in such circumstances, that shows hope for human beings in an otherwise insane and irrational situation dominated by hatred and fear.<\/p>\n

Q: How many ships were sunk in the kamikaze campaigns?<\/p>\n

\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/<\/p>\n

Rest of the article up at http:\/\/www.japantimes.co.jp\/community\/2015\/05\/03\/issues\/japan-u-s-effort-tell-suicide-pilots-stories-dodges-controversy-wins-praise\/
\nThere will be a longer version containing the whole hourlong interview with Dr. Sheftall out in a few days. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[18,22,19,50,35,20,4,31],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-13288","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-academia","category-cultural-issue","category-education","category-gaiatsu","category-good-news","category-history","category-japanese-government","category-tangents"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.debito.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13288","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.debito.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.debito.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.debito.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.debito.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=13288"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.debito.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13288\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.debito.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=13288"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.debito.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=13288"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.debito.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=13288"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}