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Re: Seiseki Abe Sensei video....whats going on here?
Peter's remarks regarding bentatsu and tekken seisai bring to mind an interesting book I read some time back, "Kamikaze Diaries: Reflections of Japanese Student Soldiers" (Emiko Ohnuki-Tierney, 2006, University of Chicago Press). There is a lot of anecdotal material in her book that attests to the treatments Peter cites (definitely, there was no love involved here), and it provides some interesting insights into the authoritarian Japanese government during WII, the symbolic position and role of the emperor, and the harsh treatment of and expectations of ultimate sacrifice that young men were expected to make not for their homeland and people, but for their emperor.
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