Appendices - Hirohito's War
E. Typhoons and Divine Winds: Kamikaze
Japanese Government Propaganda: Far from denying the existence of kamikaze, whose very existence might have been proof of desperation in defeat, the Japanese government openly promoted the existence of the Special Attack Groups. Articles and individual stories on the subject became commonplace from the autumn of 1944. Lieutenant Sekio Nishina was quoted in the Nippon Times as saying, “The spirit of the Special Attack Corps is the great spirit that runs in the blood of every Japanese… the crashing action which simultaneously kills the enemy and oneself without fail is called the Special Attack… Every Japanese is capable of becoming a member of the Special Attack Corps.”28
It seems likely that many of the kamikaze attack stories were either completely invented or at least greatly exaggerated. However, not every publication followed the government line. In Taiyo (Ocean) magazine in March 1945 an article was published in which Lieutenant-Commander Iwatani commented that “The right way is to attack the enemy with skill and return to the base with good results. A plane should be utilized over and over again. That’s the way to fight a war. The current thinking is skewed.”29