Ben Preiss
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It seems the Neo-Cons are having their day in Japan as well and are resurrecting the kamikaze as a symbol in order to motivate Japanese youth and instill nationalistic pride. Kamikaze means “divine wind” after the legendary typhoon that likely saved Japan from defeat in the 1281 invasion of China’s Mongol emperor Kublai Khan. You might think that glorifying suicidal fanatics would be so last century but Tokyo’s governor, Shintaro Ishihara has just written a movie doing just that and a southern Japanese museum dedicated to kamikaze receives 500,000 visitors a year. I understand Japan seems to be struggling to instill pride in its youth, not sure this is the way to go.  Long a synonym for the waste of war, the suicidal flyers are now being glorified in a film written by Tokyo's governor, Shintaro Ishihara, a well-known nationalist and co-author of the 1989 book "The Japan that Can Say No." "The worries, sufferings, and misgivings of these young people ... are something we cannot find in today's society," Ishihara said when his movie, "I Go to Die For You," opened this spring.
"That is what makes this portrait of youth poignant and cruel, and yet so exceptionally beautiful," he said.
No one is publicly calling for young Japanese to kill themselves for the nation these days. But the renewed hero-worship of the kamikazes coincides with a general trend in Japanese society toward seeing the country's war effort as noble, and mourning the fading of the ethic of self-sacrifice amid today's wealth.
(news.yahoo)References: variety, news.yahoo Filed In: |
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