REFLECTION ON REQUIEM OF THE BATTLESHIP YAMATO.
Before I knew the details of World War 2, I knew about the Kamikazes. I was about 7 years old when I connected what Kamikazes were and who used them, but I still did not know what war it was used in. At such a tender age, I was familiar with the stereotype that the Japanese were ruthless killing machines with no regard for life. It was not until I came to the United States that I learned the kamikazes were used in World War 2 and that the Japanese were not synonymous with Kamikazes. However, the idea that the Japanese were ruthless killing machines with no regard for human life (even theirs) was never explored. This ideology was subtly preserved in the summarized studies of World War 2 in high …show more content…
While that claim seems obvious, the current oversimplification of the Pacific War against the Japanese leaves these stereotypes to persist. It affects the current view on the Japanese as it affected mine. The real Japanese were as patriotic, as devoted to winning and preserving their dignity, and as respectful of life as the American soldier they fought against. The Requiem for Battleship Yamato gives examples of this value of family, life and country of the Japanese soldiers as they ventured into battle aboard Yamato in April 1945. In Yoshida’s account, he painted the agonizing picture of a comrade, Ensign Mori, who silently struggled in accepting death as his fate because of his love for his fiancée and his desire for her to be happy when he was gone . This example showed that while many accepted the seemingly inevitable fate of death, like any other human, they yearned for an alternative way to deal with the situation. The Japanese had loved ones who they wanted to protect and the accepting that the only way to protect them was to fight to the death was necessary for them to feel most effective in combat. Additionally, Yoshida revealed his view on Kamikazes when he stated that “in the entire battle not a single [American] pilot is so rash as to crash his plane into
Before I knew the details of World War 2, I knew about the Kamikazes. I was about 7 years old when I connected what Kamikazes were and who used them, but I still did not know what war it was used in. At such a tender age, I was familiar with the stereotype that the Japanese were ruthless killing machines with no regard for life. It was not until I came to the United States that I learned the kamikazes were used in World War 2 and that the Japanese were not synonymous with Kamikazes. However, the idea that the Japanese were ruthless killing machines with no regard for human life (even theirs) was never explored. This ideology was subtly preserved in the summarized studies of World War 2 in high …show more content…
While that claim seems obvious, the current oversimplification of the Pacific War against the Japanese leaves these stereotypes to persist. It affects the current view on the Japanese as it affected mine. The real Japanese were as patriotic, as devoted to winning and preserving their dignity, and as respectful of life as the American soldier they fought against. The Requiem for Battleship Yamato gives examples of this value of family, life and country of the Japanese soldiers as they ventured into battle aboard Yamato in April 1945. In Yoshida’s account, he painted the agonizing picture of a comrade, Ensign Mori, who silently struggled in accepting death as his fate because of his love for his fiancée and his desire for her to be happy when he was gone . This example showed that while many accepted the seemingly inevitable fate of death, like any other human, they yearned for an alternative way to deal with the situation. The Japanese had loved ones who they wanted to protect and the accepting that the only way to protect them was to fight to the death was necessary for them to feel most effective in combat. Additionally, Yoshida revealed his view on Kamikazes when he stated that “in the entire battle not a single [American] pilot is so rash as to crash his plane into