Kamikaze
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	Japanese book Ima tokkōtai no shi o kangaeru (Thinking now about death of special attack force members) by Atsushi Shirai (2002)

Japanese Books

During the American occupation of Japan between 1945 and 1952, censors rarely allowed publication of books related to Japan's special attack forces and other subjects considered to be militaristic propaganda. For example, Yoshida Mitsuru's account of the Yamato's suicide mission in April 1945, Requiem for Battleship Yamato, did not get published in full until the end of the occupation after being suppressed in 1946 and 1948 by censors (Dower 1999, 415-6). Since the end of the American occupation and continuing until today, many Japanese books have been published about the Kamikaze Corps and other Special Attack Corps units.

The books cover a wide variety of subjects, including numerous personal narratives of special attack force members who survived the war. Also, many Japanese books with writings of Special Attack Corps members have been published. Many books cover the experiences of just the Japanese Navy or Army, since they had distinct operations and traditions. Chiran Air Base and the kamikaze pilots who made sorties from there are topics of several popular books published since the 1980s. The Chiran Peace Museum for Kamikaze Pilots and three popular movies from 1993 to 2001 about Chiran Air Base special attack pilots have generated great interest in this air base used by the Army for sorties of Special Attack Corps pilots during the Battle of Okinawa.

One of the best Japanese reference books on all types of special attack corps is Tokubetsu Kōgekitai (Special Attack Corps) by the Tokkōtai Senbotsusha Irei Heiwa Kinen Kyoukai (Tokkōtai Commemoration Peace Memorial Association). This 395-page book published in 1990 has three main sections: (1) general history of each type of special attack corps, (2) names, units, and dates of death for all who died in Navy and Army special attack corps, and (3) photos and information about monuments and museums throughout the country.

All ages in Japan read manga (comics), and several manga include stories about special attack forces that carried out suicide attacks near the end of the war.

Several children's books, some for elementary school students, cover the topic of special attack corps.

Below are links to completed reviews of other Japanese books:

• Aihoshi, Hana no toki wa kanashimi no toki (Flower season, a sad season)
• Akabane and Ishii, Hotaru kaeru (The firefly returns)
• Asahi Shimbun Seibu Honsha, Sora no kanata ni (To distant skies)
• Den, Tokkōtai datta boku ga ima wakamono ni tsutaetai koto (What I as a former Special Attack Corps member would like to say to today's young people)
• Dizon, Firipin shōnen ga mita kamikaze: osanai kokoro ni kizamareta yasashii nihonjintachi (Kamikaze seen by Philippine youth: Kind Japanese individuals engraved in my young heart)
• 56th Shin'yō Squadron Member Volunteers, Reiko Kimura, and Enosuke Kamida, Kaigun suijō tokkōtai: Shin'yō (Navy surface special attack corps: Shin'yō)
• Fukushima, Abe Masaya shōi: Nido senshi shita tokkōhei (Second Lieutenant Masaya Abe: Special attack soldier who died in battle twice)
• Gotoh, Tokkō senshi no ishi ni furete (Experiencing the last wishes of the special attack warriors)
• Hayashi, Kuroshio no natsu: Saigo no shin'yō tokkō (Kuroshio summer: Last shin'yō special attack)
• Hiragi, Tokkō pairotto o sagase: Umoreta rekishi no nazo o horiokoshita shinjitsu no kiroku (Finding a kamikaze pilot: Record of truth uncovered regarding puzzle of his hidden history)
• Hiroi, Hotaru ni natta tokkōhei: Miyagawa Saburō monogatari (Kamikaze pilot who turned into firefly: Story of Saburō Miyagawa)
• Horikoshi, Inochi narikeri: Tokkō yotabi seikan no ki (Even such is life: Account of returning alive four times from special attacks)
• Jinno, Azusa tokubetsu kōgekitai (Azusa special attack unit)
• Kachi, Senkan mizūri ni totsunyū shita reisen (Zero fighter that crashed into battleship Missouri)
• Kataoka, Ai shite yamazu (Unending love)
• Kikuchi, Shiragiku rensō (Shiragiku Associations)
• Kōsaka, Tokkōtaiin no inochi no koe ga kikoeru (Hearing the voices of lives of special attack corps members)
• Kudō, Tokkō e no rekuiemu (The Requiem for Kamikaze)
• Kuniyoshi, Shōnen to Ishigakijima tokkō kichi (A Boy and Ishigakijima Special Attack Base)
• Medoruma, Fūon (The Crying Wind)
• Minaminippon Living Shinbunsha, Zerosen ni kaketa otoko (Man who soared in Zero fighter)
• Mōri, Gekkō no natsu (Summer of the Moonlight Sonata)
• Mōri, Yuki wa jūnanasai tokkō de shinda (Yuki died at 17 in a kamikaze attack)
• Nakata, Tokkōbana (Tokkō Flowers)
• Nakata, "Tokkōbana" tte shitteru? (Do you know about "tokkō flowers"?)
• Nikaidō, Umi no bohyō: Suijō tokkō "shin'yōtei" no kiroku (Grave markers at sea: Record of marine special attack shin'yō boats)
• Ōmori, Tokkō kaiten "isho" no nazo o ou (Pursuing mystery of special attack kaiten last letter)
• Ōnishi, Futari no tokkōtaiin (Two Special Attack Corps members)
• Satō, Tokkō no machi: Chiran (Special attack corps town: Chiran)
• Shiraishi, Amerika kara mita tokkō (Kamikaze on the American view)
• Shirakawa, Sara no hana: "Tokkō" Okinawa no umi ni chiru, Nakajima Hidehiko no kiroku (Sal flower: Dying in special attack in Sea of Okinawa, record of Hidehiko Nakajima)
• Takeyama, Hotaru (Firefly)
• Tenzan, Kaiten shōsetsu nidai - Kaiten tokubetsu kōgekitai no haha: Oshige-san monogatari and Shūsen zenjitsu no kūbaku: Hikari kaiten kichi monogatari (Two kaiten stories - Mother of kaiten special attack corps: Story of Oshige and Air attack on day before end of war: Story of Hikari kaiten base)
• Torihama, Chiran inochi no monogatari: "Tokkō no haha" to yobareta Torihama Tome no shōgai (Chiran life story: Life of Tome Torihama, called "tokkō mother")
• Torihama, Naze wakamonotachi wa egao de tobitatte itta no ka (Why did the young men take off with smiling faces?)
• Usami, Ningen gyorai kaiten: Chinkon su tokkō jidai (Kaiten human torpedo: Time of singing requiems for special attacks)
• Yasujima, Tokkō hyōryū (Special attack drift)
• Yokoyama, Deguchi no nai umi (Sea without exit)

Sources Cited

Dower, John W. 1999. Embracing Defeat: Japan in the Wake of World War II. New York: W.W. Norton.

Tokkōtai Senbotsusha Irei Heiwa Kinen Kyōkai (Tokkōtai Commemoration Peace Memorial Association). 1990. Tokubetsu Kōgekitai (Special Attack Corps). Tōkyō: Tokkōtai Senbotsusha Irei Heiwa Kinen Kyōkai.