Hotaru (Firefly)
by Yō Takeyama
edited by Seisaku Iinkai (Production Committee)
Kadokawa Shoten, 2002, 235 pages
Hotaru (Firefly), one of the most popular Japanese
films of 2001, received nominations in 13 categories of the Japanese Academy
Awards. This movie tells the story of three Special Attack Corps pilots, including a Korean
pilot who dies after departing Chiran, the Army's largest air base for special
(suicide)
attacks during the Battle of Okinawa. Another pilot survives after being shot
down, and he marries the Japanese fiancée of the deceased Korean pilot soon
after the end of the war. Yō Takeyama, who wrote the movie script together with
the director Yasuo Furuhata, also wrote a novel based on the movie. For the
plot summary of the film and book, see the web page with the review of
the film Hotaru (Firefly).
Although the novel lacks the strong emotional impact found
in the acting of the movie's characters, the book provides additional details
about the characters' backgrounds not mentioned specifically in the movie.
Also, the novel reveals more of the characters' emotions and opinions, whereas
feelings often remain unspoken in the film.
The novel reader finds out details not disclosed in the
movie. Tomoko lived only a half year more after she visited Korea with her
husband to return the bag and pendant of her deceased fiancé to his family
living near Pusan. She refused to get a kidney transplant from her husband. She
did have an operation, but she said that it would be lonely if she lived longer
than her husband (p. 216). The reader also discovers that Tomoko worked at
Chiran's Tomiya Restaurant from May 1945 to the fall of 1946, and she married
soon thereafter when the woman who ran the restaurant encouraged her to marry
the Special Attack Corps pilots who had been friends with the Korean pilot who had died
(pp. 174-5).
Some minor plot details differ between the novel and the
movie. For example, Tomoko's fiancé's oral will is slightly changed to the following words
(pp. 192, 204-5):
Tomo, I make a sortie tomorrow. Thank you. I was truly happy
because of you. I will surely sink an enemy ship. However, I do not die for the
Japanese Empire. With Korean pride I will sortie for my family, for Korea's
families, and for Tomo! Long live the Korean people. Long live Tomo. Thank you.
Please live in happiness. I will always be beside you. Tomo is eternal.
Goodbye.
He said the above words aloud to the two other Special Attack Corps
pilots with him since he could not reveal his true feelings in writing due to
military censorship of correspondence. Another interesting difference in the
book is that the Korean pilot is no longer the person who said he would return
as a firefly after making his attack. Instead, the book changes the plot to
correctly refer to the actual historical pilot, Saburō Miyagawa, as the one who
made the statement (pp. 66-9, 161-2).
The book generally has similar strengths and limitations as
the movie (see movie review for discussion). Although the novel provides
additional details on the movie characters and plot, it still does not provide
many details of the actual history of Japanese Special Attack Corps pilots.
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