Father of the Kamikaze (あゝ決戦航空隊)

Attention!

Last year, on December 12th...

...several participants in the bombing of Clark Field in the Philippines, namely...

...Flight Sergeant 1st-Class Kawata and eight officers, were shot down.

Though listed as dead, on January 2nd...

...after the 14th Army Unit's invasion of Manila, they were rescued from a US prison camp.

At that time in Japan...

...prejudice against those who became prisoners of war was beyond current imagining.

"Do not live to endure the shame of being a prisoner of war."

To be a POW meant ostracism, not only of oneself but of one's entire family.

Coupled with the Japanese mentality, this created a military force...

...that would die rather than surrender.

Hence, the focus of the discussion was, needless to say, the issue of why...

...Flight Sergeant 1st-Class Kawata and the eight officers did not commit suicide.

Can we not think of a way that they might live, instead of ways to kill them?

I understand how you must feel.

All eight officers have been publicly listed as casualties of war.

Hence the situation is quite difficult.

Chief...

if we lose planes, we can always make more.

But pilots are not made in a day.

Indeed, going down with the ship, exploding with one's plane, these are beautiful ideals.

However, our Air Corps cannot fight like that.

We implore you to find a way to be lenient.

But the conclusion of this incident was not what Onishi had hoped for.

We should've killed ourselves. We're a disgrace to the Navy.

We're traitors! We should've killed ourselves.

I'm going to die... I'm going to die!

That's enough!

Calm down! Enough!

Stupid jackass! What's your little death going to accomplish?

What's it going to accomplish?!

I will die! I will die!

One month later, shortly after Chief of Staff Onishi was transferred inland...

...the eight officers were ordered to launch a single-plane attack on Port Moresby.

Single-plane attack, with no other planes as escort.

The command was tantamount to suicide.

Thank you very much!

It's from the Kawata plane.

What's the matter? Is that all?

Yes sir.

declaration document.

"We, the Emperor, ruler by divine providence

of the Empire of Great Japan...

"...hereby clearly and valorously declare war...

"...against the United States and Great Britain."

Mere six months after the start of the Pacific War...

...the western Pacific and Southeast Asia were under complete Japanese control.

But, after the six-month war of attrition on Guadalcanal...

...Japan's strategic position began to deteriorate.

Even the Air Force, which had once thought itself invincible, had, by mid-1944...

...lost most of the elite pilots that participated in the attack on Pearl Harbor.

Furthermore, U.S. war industrial output was six times greater than Japan's...

...and was manufacturing new types of heavily-armed fighter planes...

...that established U.S. air superiority. By the summer of 1944...

...having lost Saipan, the critical defensive bastion defending the homeland...

...Japan's prospects had become dire indeed.

Allied forces could now attack Japanese-held territory...

...from multiple staging points in the Pacific.

What would be their next move?

While Japanese military intelligence anxiously tried to answer this question...

...a fierce debate raged between the Allied commanders.

Admiral King emphasized the importance of immediately invading Taiwan...

...while General MacArthur argued for the liberation of the Philippines.

The Joint Chiefs of Staff decided upon the capture of the Philippines.

The Philippines became the focal point of the entire war.

For Japan, losing the Philippines meant losing crucial Southern Pacific resources.

In one fell swoop, the enemy would gain access to Taiwan, to Okinawa, and even the homeland.

The strategy for defending the Philippines was codenamed SHO-1.

At this stage of the war, it was a battle that they absolutely could not afford to lose.

Meanwhile, Onishi had been promoted to Vice Admiral...

...and was Vice Director of the Department of Air Weapons on the Naval General Staff.

However, the star of the Naval Air Corps was headed for the battlefront yet again.

The Emperor himself presided over his appointment as Commander of the First Air Fleet.

We can no longer win this war with ordinary tactics.

We must use special attack tactics to destroy the enemy; there is no other way.

I am petitioning the Naval General Staff to organize " special attack" units.

Therefore, I have come to you, Vice Admiral Onishi, for a letter supporting my plan.

Please, give me your recommendation!

To turn the tide in our favor, we must not just be willing to die; it is now necessary that we die.

My firm belief is that we must make self-sacrificing attacks.

We'll pack 1,800 kilograms of explosives in the nose, and fly to the target.

From a height of 6,000 meters, it will enter a dive...

...and plunge into the enemy at a very high speed.

I'm against it. We can't turn our pilots into ammunition.

We cannot be so cruel towards our pilots.

I could never agree to such disgusting tactics.

Look at this. Accidents happen, everyday, even here at the base.

We are forced to send our pilots into battle with only 200 hours of flight time.

To expect skilled piloting is a dream of the past.

They can take off, and fly to the target locations. That's about all...

...we can ask from our current cadre of pilots.

This is absolutely unacceptable!

No matter how bad things are, we can use our brains to find a better solution.

Please support my suicide-attack plan!

Vice Director Onishi, why are you silent?!

The demand for suicide attacks is getting more insistent.

I believe that the Navy must make a firm decision on how to proceed.

Please give me your opinion.

My opinion?

Well... it'd be easy to order a suicide attack if a plane was too damaged to return to base.

But to deliberately launch suicide attacks?

There is no precedent for it in all the long history of warfare around the world.

I did not come here to debate tactics.

I have come to inquire of the Navy's decision about the SHO-1 operation.

Are we going to implement suicide attacks?

I'm aware of the situation. I'm aware of it. But...

Let's say that we implement this strategy.

If it is a failure, the effect on military morale will be catastrophic.

We need the Combined Fleet's opinion... yes...

We can't decide anything until we hear the Combined Fleet's opinion.

The question is whether or not we can maintain discipline...

...if the tactic is employed.

Am I correct to assume, then, that the Combined Fleet...

...is against the implementation of suicide attacks?

I am not saying that I am against it.

Only that it needs more study.

We have done all the research, based on our earlier skip-bombing training.

I believe you are already familiar with the results, as presented in the report.

Undeniably, the suicide attack tactic is not palatable.

But if we are going to bring calm to the current maelstrom...

...then someone... then some, brave, someone must...

...belt the cat. We need such courage more than ever before.

Chief. I implore you. Please decide in its favor.

I just finished the assignment ceremony at the Imperial Court.

I will be departing for the Philippines tomorrow morning.

Well done. Come, have a seat.

An enemy B-29 has been spotted,

heading north above Sagami Harbor... Did it come from Saipan?

An enemy B-29 has been spotted,

heading north above Sagami Harbor... Most likely.

This war has turned out just as you predicted.

Like Yamamoto, you were opposed to the Japan-Germany-Italy Tripartite Pact.

You never took an aggressive stance, even in the beginning of the war.

You opposed the big battleships, instead you championed the use of aircraft.

You even advocated changing the Navy emblem from the anchor to a propeller.

Knowing this, it is cruel of us to send you off to the Philippines so unceremoniously.

But we need you to do this.

For you are the only man who can do it.

There is one thing that I want you to understand.

It's regarding the special attack tactic that is currently being debated by the Navy.

I want you to leave the decision on whether to use it in the Philippines in my hands.

Needless to say, I will take full responsibility for the success or failure of the air mission.

Is that acceptable?

The enemy B-29 is still headed north above Sagami Harbor.

Although no other enemy airplanes have been spotted, everyone must remain vigilant.

Hey, the evening primrose is about to blossom. Hurry up and come out here. Hurry.

Come on, you're going to miss it.

Yoshi-e, Yoshi-e.

Hey, mother.

Evening primrose again?

Yeah... so you were listening?

Couldn't help it, I could hear you from across the street.

We are grateful for your efforts.

Thanks.

Under different circumstances, I would've been grateful for my promotion...

...but this time it's as if His Majesty has given me the dagger as well.

I've finally found this. It's not a name brand, but its sharpness is guaranteed.

Please take it with you to the Philippines, as a memento from me.

You're going too, you know.

What? I'm going to the Philippines too?

Yeah. You'll help us construct an airfield.

Good grief! I'm going from scrounging to digging ditches?

Driver will come for you at 06:00 tomorrow morning.

Come back here, and don't be late.

Good grief...

Welcome.

Ma'am, it looks like I'll never have time to find a wife while I'm working for your man here.

Look, it's about to bloom.

It's blooming, it's blooming.

The following morning, Onishi and his staff departed from Tokyo and flew to Fukuoka.

At Hakozaki Shrine, they prayed for good fortune in war.

Hey, Hiko-chan, when did you arrive?

Last night. I went to Air Corps and they said you guys were here.

They told me to bring this to you.

Read it for me.

Yes.

Looks like there was a massive air strike on Okinawa this morning.

All we know so far is that it was a large B-29 formation that flew in from China.

That's not right.

What's not right?

It's just a hunch, but they didn't fly in from China.

I think the attack was launched from a fleet of carriers.

And if that is the case...

...then building new runways will be a waste of time.

Then what am I supposed to do?

Wait in Shanghai with Yoshida. Be ready to leave at any time.

Yes sir, understood.

Onishi's intuition was correct.

General MacArthur's invasion force, escorted by Admiral Halsey's fleet...

...was headed straight for the Philippines.

"I have returned...

"...with a colossal fleet of six battleships, eighteen aircraft carriers...

"...and 700 other vessels escorting the flagship USS Nashville...

"...carrying 174,000 elite US soldiers, men who have defeated Nazi Germany...

"...men who are the greatest warriors the world has ever seen."

"The ocean covered with our ships as far as the eye can see...

"...and it is with them that I have returned to Leyte."

"I have returned, indeed. I have returned."

Facing this enemy horde was the First Air Fleet, with only fifty operational aircraft.