Interview: We were treated as "war expendables" by Imperial Japan: ex-suicide attacker

When the Japanese Emperor Hirohito announced Japan's unconditional surrender at the end of World War II, 16-year-old Mitsuru Mita was under training as a suicide attacker in a navy base and was ready to be sent to the battlefield at any time with many of his companions.

"At that time, many people cried for Japan's defeat, but on the contrary, I felt a sense of relief and couldn't help shouting out 'Banzai' (a celebratory cheer) in my head," Mita, now 86, revealed his true feeling 70 years after the war, to Xinhua in an exclusive interview.

Mita believed that a large number of Japanese soldiers became victims of the upper echelons of the regime. "Nobody cared for our personal opinions and standpoints. We were just 'war expendables' and were determined to die," he said.

Referring to his war experience, Mita told a miserable story.

"I went to Beijing with my parents when I was a child and graduated from a Japanese junior high school. After that, I returned to Japan and joined the army on April 1945," Mita recalled.

Japan was on the verge of defeat at that time but the Imperial army still planned to put up a desperate struggle. Under this situation, many young people, including Mita, were recruited by the army to conduct suicide attacks, as they were more effectively than conventional attacks.

"My parents did not want me to join the army as I am the only son in my family, however, if I declined to go, I would be treated as a traitor," Mita told Xinhua at his home in Yokohama, south of Tokyo.

In the four-month period from his recruitment to Japan's surrender, Mita experienced incredibly strenuous training, coupled with cruel and torturous corporal punishment as his daily routine. "My weight decreased to 48 kg from 62 kg due to both physical and mental torture. If that was sustained for months, I would die anyway."

At the navy base, Mita and his companions learned about plenty of special attack tactics, including in the air, land and sea.

"One tactic is called 'Fukuryu,' which literally means ' crouching dragon' and has also been called 'suicide divers'." Mita explained, "People were armed with a mine containing explosive and would dive and stick the pole into the hull of an enemy ship, destroying themselves in the process."

Mita also mentioned other tactics, including crashing aircraft or ships into the enemy's warships. "Nobody intended to return alive. More than 70 percent of those apprentices who were one or two years older than me all died in the battlefield."

People were required to offer themselves "courageously to the state," and the ultimate offering was to give up one's life. Even today Mita could not agree with this kind of belief. "It's easy for those high-ranking military officers to talk about death in the abstract, because they themselves did not know the taste of death at all. But for us, the fear of death is real."

In 1978, the Yasukuni Shrine enshrined 14 Class-A war criminals along with other deceased veterans. As for this move, Mita expressed his strong opposition. "Those Class-A war criminals are the culprits for the numerous deaths and the country's destruction. However, they are now enshrined in the same place with innocent souls, that's ridiculous."

After Japan's surrender, Mita experienced a tough time. He used to sell old books, repair electric appliances and even polish shoes for the U.S. soldiers. "Though hard, I was happy because there's hope. During the war period, I felt every sound of the clock ticking away towards my death."

Mita firmly believed that Japan's defeat was a good thing. " Without the total defeat, the free and pacifist era would never arrive."

Looking into the future, Mita said the incumbent government should learn a lesson from history and never allow the historical tragedy to be repeated especially as this year marks the 70th anniversary of the end of WWII.

"Japan's militarism and authoritarianism is reviving under Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's administration in recent years," Mita said. "People with different opinions are regarded as traitors, which is similar to the pre-war period."

Mita believed that it is dangerous and may drive the country mad in the future. "We must maintain keen vigilance at all time to prevent Japan from becoming involved in war again." Endi