Throughout the various history classes I have taken over the years, the role of the Kamikaze during WWII was largely explained in the same way: Japanese culture dictated that soldiers should give their lives for their empire and that is why pilots were so willing to give their lives to bring down enemy planes and ships. However, in Kamikaze Diaries: Reflections of Japanese Student Soldiers, the author, Emiko Ohnuki-Tierney, seeks to deconstruct this belief. By first pointing out that the majority of soldiers, particularly the student soldiers, did not willingly become Kamikaze pilots, Ohnuki-Tierney provides a fresh perspective into the minds of Kamikaze pilots. Drawing on their personal diaries and correspondence with family members, she provides a haunting look into the way these young men struggled to remain loyal to their country and accept their fate.

I think one of the most important details to note in regards to this text is that the soldiers whose lives and thoughts the author examines are student soldiers. This means that they were all students at prestigious universities before being drafted into the war. This is something I constantly had to keep remembering because it's easy to fall into the habit of simply taking the experiences of some and applying it to all. Therefore, although the accounts of the student soldiers presented in this book provide a voice and a face for kamikaze pilots as tormented youths, the reader cannot assume that this was the case with all pilots. Doing so would perpetuate the same cycle of misunderstanding that kamikaze pilots have suffered for over 50 years; the stigma that they were all crazy and that everything could be blamed on Japan's "supposed" cultural fear of failure.

Overall, I found the book to be well written and analyzed. The author's notes that explained the symbolism used in the student's writings were helpful and added an extra layer of depth and understanding to the text. Because the pilots were all former students of prestigious universities, they quite often refer to philosophical works or classic novels in their diaries, using them to analyze the dilemma they face. These parts can be difficult to understand unless the reader has studied these same philosophers before. However, I noticed that while the first student soldier continually referenced philosophical texts, it wasn't as prominent in the stories that followed his. By the end of the book, I felt that the author had done an excellent job of giving the student soldiers a voice and on dispelling many of the misunderstandings that surround the kamikaze pilots.

One of the main aims of this book is to dispel the myth that kamikaze pilots were fanatical nationalists, eager to die in the name of the Emperor. As it turns out, there were 4000 kamikaze pilots trained. 3000 were children - schoolboys - and 1000 were students who had been granted early graduation to enable them to be drafted. Huge amounts of peer pressure were put on them to 'volunteer'. Sickeningly, the whole process was done at arms-length from the regular army and navy because they took their orders from the Emperor, and it could not be seen that the Emperor was ordering men to die.

The schoolboy pilots have left few traces, but many of the the students kept lengthy diaries, which are the subject of this book. Many of them came from prestigious universities and they have a remarkable breadth of education - at high school they all learnt Latin and two of English, French and German, as well as reading huge amounts of political and social philosophy, with Marxism and German Rationalism being particularly influential.

Their diaries track their responses to their reading, as well as their views about their own situation - both the war itself, and their inevitable oncoming death which they are expected to receive with joy.

Some of them are supporters of making peace from the start. Others begin with strong patriotic sentiments which are eroded by the brutal, oppressive treatment they receive on the military bases. But the overall picture is a complex mixture of pride in the national culture, a sense of impending doom (whether or not they are in the army), an idealised view of masculinity and sacrifice, and an often naively adolescent view of the ills of the world.

Ohnuki-Tierney argues that all of these responses were attempts to rationalise the fact that they were going to die young, and they didn't want to. I don't think that the texts themselves demonstrate this clearly - some of the patriotic emotions were surely genuine. I can understand her intentions, but I think that this complexity is already enough to demonstrate that the stereotype of kamikaze pilots is inaccurate.

Overall, there was some fascinating information in this book. However, for my tastes it spent too much time analysing the philosophical thinking of the students. The diary entries about their fears and their families were extremely moving, and it was interesting to hear about their influences - much less so to read their detailed thoughts about their reading of Novalis or their response to the painting of Degas. Also, the sections dealing with each individual are very repetitive.

Recommended for: I would recommend the introduction to anyone with an interest in the subject. The full text more for someone who wants to know about their responses to the political philosophies of the time.

NB: I should mention that despite the title not all the diaries are of kamikaze pilots, although they were all young ex-students serving in the Japanese military. ( )

Kamikaze Diaries: Reflections of Japanese Student Soldiers is an interesting, thoughtful, and moving examination of the diaries and letters of seven kamikaze pilots, all university students, all whom lost their lives at the end of the war. It will completely blow away any preconceptions about these pilots as fanatical soldiers willing and happy to die for the Emperor with banzai on their lips as they tried to crash their planes into American ships.

All of these pilots were conscripted. When the program was introduced in October, 1944, not a single officer who had been trained at the military academies volunteered; all knew it was a meaningless mission that could only end in death.. There were about 4,000 kamikaze pilots of which about 3,000 were so-called boy pilots and about 1,000 of these were student pilots who were graduated from university on an accelerated basis so that they could be included in the early draft.

Ohnuki-Tierney details the recruitment of the student soldiers and brutal nature of the Japanese military where corporal punishment and severe beatings were commonplace All of the students quickly became disabused of any notions of military honour or grandeur that they might have harboured, though few of them did so to start. Most entered the military with strong feelings about romanticism, cosmopolitanism, humanism, pacifism, socialist and anti-capitalist leanings, recognition that the war was lost, and awareness of the military's manipulation of symbols such as cherry blossoms to try to glorify the death of soldiers. They were all remarkably well-read in Western literature, philosophy, social issues and theories, often in the original languages of French, German and English. They were curious about societal paths and what Japan might learn from the Western experience in terms of philosophy, social structures and economic organization.

Ohnuki-Tierney is a professor of anthropology and she does a good job of parsing the pressures of Japanese society, myths and propaganda on these young men. A moving, common thread in all of their ruminations is trying to find meaning in their inevitable deaths, meaning that was often wrapped up love of the country (but not buying into the embodiment of the Emperor), the hope that out of their sacrifice and the defeat of Japan a better society would emerge, and love of family.

An unusual and interesting book and one that touches the common humanity of us all.