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Fate to NOT many countries have national heroes who are also despised and feared, but welcome to modern Japan. When Masayuki Imai was growing up, the word "kamikaze" was forbidden, and when he played with models of Zero fighter planes, adults frowned at him. What was in the past belonged in the past. Japan was too busy reinventing itself.
the ‘Wind’
Kamikaze pilots take off
in 'Winds of God'
By Burl Burlingame
Star-Bulletin"In Japan, we're not taught the scope of the Pacific War. There's a curious lack of fact and detail," said Imai, who grew to become a well-regarded actor and playwright. "It was a mystery. It wasn't in the textbooks. What was a kamikaze? A superman of sorts? An amazon warrior or something? I was interested and I became determined to write something about the kamikaze."
The kamikaze, the "divine wind," is the name given to the typhoon that saved Japan from a Chinese invasion hundreds of years ago, and re-applied to Japanese pilots who dove bomb-and-gasoline-laden aircraft directly into Allied ships, hundreds of death dives that created havoc in navy task forces. The USS Missouri still has a dent in her side from a ferocious kamikaze assault.
What Imai created, a decade ago, is "The Winds of God," a black comedy that became the first Japanese-language production on Broadway. A couple of Japanese comedians are involved in a scooter accident and awake to find themselves reincarnated in the past -- in August, 1945, to be exact, as kamikaze pilots getting ready for their final mission. They remain aware of the futile nature of the mission, and of the wealthy, lazy Japan of the future, but at the same time are struck by the sacrificial dedication of their squadron mates.
"The Winds of God is a powerful play, a courageous one," said the New York Times. Funny, too.
The work has never stopped touring, and the 2000 Millennium World Tour is alighting in Honolulu for nine performances, starting at 7:30 p.m. tomorrow at Mamiya Theatre. It's in English, courtesy Elle Company Tokyo, Neutral International and the University of Hawai'i at Manoa Outreach College.
We caught up with Imai -- who's producing, directing and acting in the work -- and interrogated him.
"Once I started talking to the real kamikaze pilots -- there are many left -- and I discovered that they were NOT supermen, it really shocked me," said Imai. "Actually, it inspired me, that ordinary, regular men did such things. Many weren't even that good as pilots. The really good pilots were saved for fighting the Americans.
"But after the war, for the older generation, they were evil personified, the kind of samurai responsible for the war," mused Imai. "The whole tradition of the bushido spirit was denied and eradicated, and to this day, associated with death and destruction. Crazy young men who carried bombs to their deaths. If anyone even suggests any kind of memorial, they're accused of wanting to associate with the war."
The irony of this attitude is that the best scholars of Imperial Japanese aviation history are generally American.
"Younger people in Japan have no real understanding of the war; they're not even sure if the kamikaze were Japanese," said Imai. "And the Korean, Thai and Manchurian kamikaze pilots aren't remembered at all. It's not only not taught, it's like ... the subject smells bad, keep a lid on it. The whole Showa era, in fact, is glossed over.
"The prevailing attitude, the official attitude, is that Japan was victimized in the war. Look at Hiroshima. There are exhibits all over about what the bomb did to the Japanese, but nothing about why it came to be dropped in the first place. TV documentaries -- the overriding theme is the horrors of war for the Japanese."
Such a prevailing cultural wind blew against Imai as he crafted his play. "The Japanese government refused to help, and there were no corporate sponsors. The theme of kamikaze scared them away. It's like it's wrong to be a samurai in real life -- except on TV shows! But being a samurai means facing up to the truth. It's evil to deny history. There was a war -- what led to it? That's what I want to know! You can't learn from suppressed knowledge."
Imai, who as a young man served in the Japan Self-Defense Force as a tank crewman, points out that he's "allergic to the whole concept of war -- it's crazy -- but you can take pride in defending yourselves.
"Americans have pride in simply being American, but that's not the case in Japan. We're losing our identity as Japanese. Aspects of our culture aren't surviving. Filial piety, for example. There are teen-agers killing their parents in Japan! Can you imagine? The average Japanese is more loyal to his company than to his country. The average yakuza is more loyal.
"That's why I created this show, to take a look at history in the light of the future. Once, when we presented the show on (aircraft carrier) Intrepid in New York, with a group of Zero fighter pilots, an American gentleman in the his 70s came over to meet us.
"He had a limp, from wounds when pieces of a Zero plane exploded and hit him in the war. It was one of the most touching incidents I've ever witnessed. You could have heard a pin drop! When he and the pilots compared notes, they discovered they had been in the same battle, in Leyte.
"They hugged, they cried. It was baffling to think back that years ago these gentlemen were trying so hard to kill one another, and now they have so much in common.
"In another case, an older Caucasian lady came to us in Los Angeles and said she had hated us for 50 years, we had killed her brother. She said that, until she saw the show, she had never believed that kamikaze pilots were even human beings. They were monsters to her. She had tears in her eyes."That's why it's important to do this show, to keep it going. It's a tool to communicate and heal old wounds."
Would Imai consider becoming a kamikaze today?
"Not for the emperor, I wouldn't! The kamikaze had the courage to die, but not the courage to say no. That is very Japanese. But to protect my loved ones and neighbors ... I'd like to think I'd have the guts."
On stage
What: "The Winds of God (Kamikaze)"
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