Wings of Defeat- Film and Discussion April 23, 2008

Film showing and dialog
with director Risa Morimoto and producer Linda Hoaglund
Wednesday April 23 6:30PM

Internationally, Kamikaze pilots remain a potent metaphor for fanaticism. In Japan, they are largely revered for their selfless sacrifice. Yet few outside Japan know that hundreds of kamikaze pilots survived the war. By the spring of 1945, when all Japanese planes were reassigned to kamikaze (Tokkotai) attacks, Japan could no longer defend its airspace and its naval fleet was demolished. Old airplanes and inadequate training resulted in many failed engines, leaving scores of pilots stranded. When Japan surrendered, hundreds of kamikaze trainees were awaiting sortie orders that never arrived.

Through rare interviews with surviving kamikaze pilots, we learn that the military demanded pilots volunteer to give up their lives. Retracing their journeys from teenagers to doomed pilots, a complex history of brutal training and ambivalent sacrifice is revealed Sixty years later, survivors tell us about their mindsets, their experiences in a kamikaze cockpit and what it meant to survive when thousands of their fellow pilots had died. Their stories insist we set aside our preconceptions to relive their all too human experiences. Ultimately, they help us question what responsibilities a government at war has to its soldiers and to its people.
Director Risa Morimoto and Producer Linda Hoaglund will be joining us for a discussion following the film. Risa Morimoto was born and raised in New York, the daughter of Japanese artists who moved to America to pursue their artistic ambitions. Linda Hoaglund was born and raised in rural Japan, the daughter of liberal American missionaries. Despite her Japanese heritage, Risa never questioned that Kamikaze pilots were fanatics who happily crashed their planes into American ships. Linda, despite her American citizenship, grew up believing the Kamikazes were innocent victims who had willingly sacrificed their lives to a war, in which hundreds of thousands of Japanese had been firebombed by American planes.

Risa and Linda joined forces to learn everything about the Kamikaze experience from both sides of that war. Risa worked her way through hundreds of hours of footage and numerous photographs at the National Archives in Washington. Linda and Risa combed Japanese archival sources to discover a trove of propaganda footage and candid images of doomed teenage pilots and the military commanders who ordered their deaths, some shown in this film for the first time.
This event is free and open to the public. Reservations are required.
RSVP to jiccrsvpspring08@embjapan.org
Seating is limited and granted on a first come, first served basis

Japan Information and Culture Center, Embassy of Japan・3 Lafayette Center・1155 21st St NW・Washington DC 20036・202-238-6949・

Official Website: http://www.us.emb-japan.go.jp/jicc