Memoirs of a Kamikaze

June 8, 2020
WWII kamikaze pilot Odachi relates his experiences as a survivor of multiple suicide missions in this eye-opening and informative account. Recruited as a fighter pilot in 1944, Odachi flew combat missions against American aircraft in the Philippines before being “invited to volunteer” for kamikaze attacks when he was just 17 years old. (“We were essentially cajoled into committing suicide,” he writes.) He wasn’t selected for a suicide mission until after he and the other Japanese pilots at Clark Field in Manila were evacuated to Taiwan in January 1945. On his first suicide sortie, Odachi couldn’t find a suitable target and returned to base after ditching his 1,000–pound bomb, a pattern he repeated several times over the next few months. (He describes the failed missions as “nauseating” for him and the other kamikaze pilots: “We had already psyched ourselves into a death frenzy.”) Odachi’s eighth mission was scratched in August when news arrived that Japan had surrendered, and he went on to a long career in the Tokyo police department. Enhanced with helpful historical sidebars and footnotes, Odachi’s memoir humanizes a much-mythologized aspect of the war in the Pacific. WWII history buffs and Japanophiles will savor the many insights.

July 1, 2020

The Japanese kamikaze pilots of World War II have a mythical status, even though they were often boys and young men with minimal training. Odachi, who was only 16 when he joined the Imperial Japanese Navy, was one of the few trained on flying the Mitsubishi A6M Zero. He would end up training and flying with the men who sacrificed themselves for Japan. His memoir, originally released in Japan in 2016 and cowritten by author and translator Shigeru Ota and journalist Hiroyoshi Nishijima, gives a firsthand account of actions across Taiwan and China up to what would have been Odachi's last mission, canceled owing to Japan's surrender in 1945. But this memoir isn't just about Odachi's time as a pilot; later chapters center on his life as a detective in Tokyo during the post-war years and his dedication to the martial art of Kendo. This focus away from the military broadens this account to reflect on life during both war and reconstruction. The book is expertly translated from Japanese by Bennett. VERDICT Odachi provides personal insight on the last days of empire, and his stories of crime in Tokyo give this memoir life. This book deserves a spot next to Yasuo Kawahara's classic autobiography Kamikaze.--John Rodzvilla, Emerson Coll., Boston

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