"On one side of the political spectrum, Japanese right-wing nationalists claimed the book was plagiarized and were indignant about its criticism of high-ranking Japanese government officials, while on the opposite side, left-wingers criticized it as a glorification of war, Hayao Miyazaki rebukes it for fabrication […]. It is drawing fire literally from all directions."

Louis, the book and the film (The Eternal Zero) annoyed pretty much everyone across the political spectrum because of their unshakeable pre-conceptions and biases, even though many facets of the tragedy of war were clearly there within the text. This is what happens when people defer to doctrine without actually thinking for themselves. Clearly the experiences and biases of some viewers/readers make it hard to look at these films through an objective lens.

The reason I think I was gripped by these films was because of their stark honesty on the personal level - they show the young men going to their death (or refusing to); the families waving them off; and the mental collapse of individuals too. I don't think the difficult subject of Kamikaze had been treated this way before. Both films do criticise the high-ranking officials of the empire, and certainly do not glorify war from my point of view, although I would agree that anything as a translated text can be nuanced, in ways the translation misses.

The films revealed something of a culture I never knew much about (and still don't pretend to). Some Kamikaze were coerced; some brainwashed; some led by their own nationalism; some driven to honour the emperor/empire; some to honour their families. It draws parallels to some situations today.

For me these films were a lesson in empathy. Again, I found modelling involving war-time subjects had led me back to reading around the 'human condition'. Empathy in times/cases of conflict and competition is said by some professionals to reach its limit. Oddly, with a little reading behind me, I learned 'that it is not simply the dangers of low empathy towards out-groups, but the risk of extreme empathy for in-groups that can lead people to take extreme measures, such as sacrificing themselves and hurting others in the process'. I guess that the nature of the 'cult' can be linked to this phenomenon?

Some other material I read, around learning to regulate empathy/emotions, threw up some other fascinating science - a collaboration between Stanford and The Hebrew University said that - 'training Israelis in emotion regulation made them more likely to support conciliatory rather than aggressive strategies in Israeli-Palestinian policies'. I wouldn't want anyone to think that this is a political comment - it isn't. I suspect the same would be true if the training was given to Palestinians. Considering the extremity of that current conflict, it might share some similarities with the state of Japan in 1944/5.

Although empathy is considered a blanket name for a number of interacting factors, I can certainly begin to see why these men, in groups of similar ages and culture acted ‘synchronously’. I can see how ‘huddling together’ and finding ways to explain where they were going, might alleviate their own terror at being expected to do their duty. I can equally see how it might be easier to ‘believe’ in what they were doing in order to rationalize being ‘nudged’ to their own deaths by others.
There are many views on an essential impulse of the Kamikaze. I think those who state a concrete opinion are bringing with them simpler political rather than complex and perhaps unanswerable psychological explanations. And in that case, Louis, they should certainly 'suck it up' if unprepared to do research outside of their first thoughts. Anyone wishing to expand their ideas in another direction might try this essay considering the link between ‘Zen’ and Kamikaze. Nothing to do with empathy, but an interesting read!

https://aeon.co/essays/the-zen-ideas-that-propelled-japan-s-young-kamikaze-pilots

Thanks so much for your views and encouragement, Louis! It is amazing what you learn when you look at a build from different perspectives! I enjoyed the last few months reading through a variety of scientific journals around these issues, but it is great to be modeling again. The fabric of a build is often so much more to the modeler than the plastic it is made of!

Anyway, I've just put some chipping fluid over the 'Airframe Aluminium' and I'm looking forward to a bit of experimentation!

That reply adds a lot to this thread, Tom. Thank you. I'll try to find that book, although it seems likely to be a very difficult one to track down. I'm currently finishing up Will Iredale's 'The Kamikaze Hunters', another interesting read around events in the Pacific; another perspective.

'The Eternal Zero', for me, also takes in a wide number of perspectives - it highlights the pacifist and the ultra-nationalist. Abe liked it; Yoko Ono liked it. It divided opinion. I’m neither surprised Abe liked it, nor that Ono did. This may in some respects be because of the tension between writer and director, who disagreed about what it was trying to depict. The writer is a particularly nasty piece of work - he is a 'Nanking Denier' - the director said he was trying to show all war as tragedy. He may have been covering his backside in the backlash, but I'm not convinced that’s true. His characters meet tragic fates.

There are mentions of the Yasukuni Shrine as a place the 'special attack unit' pilots said they would meet after death. This of course historically accurate detail may well also be a nod to the controversy of the Abe visit and the fact that recently (I think it was the late 70s but am happy to be corrected) class-A war criminals were interred there, to much international criticism. A film about Kamikaze cannot omit Shinto, but did it glorify it and were there ‘messages’ for today? Young men planning to meet after death at a shrine that had recognized war dead since the 1800s? Again, it is open to interpretation.

The really problematic ideology (putting it mildly) comes from exactly what you say, Tom - neither film is particularly apologetic, and both are insular. Neither think from the point of the men on the carriers. Whether they should is a broader question. Whatever they set out to achieve, both were blockbusters in Japan, which is why, however controversial, they rate a place in ‘the movies’ thread.

Another issue is whether the people creating the films use somewhat romantic storylines to deliver a soft-focused version of propaganda. Both films circumnavigate their problematic topics by looking at the lives of Japanese citizens past and present, on an individual and family basis. In that sense, even if these films are borne of ‘propaganda’ (and they are as I said in the very first post 'political and controversial'), it is the human stories that genuinely gripped me. I saw a brave man, in the character of Miyabe, repeatedly challenging the way people and leaders at the time thought, despite incredible pressure to self-sacrifice, which he eventually succumbs to, after a mental breakdown, with historic tragic consequences.

Even if the propaganda is taken at face value, it still provokes thought in those of us who are not right-wing ultra-nationalists. Ordinary Japanese people were victims of the war too: both those who were bombed as you say, Tom, in one case at least in an irony-tinged target city, and also some of those who flew planes into ships - because they were coerced or brain-washed. Others of course, were war criminals.

Had I lived as a German during the war, I hope I would have found a way to resist the Nazis. I’m sure we would all agree on that. Would I have been brave enough to hide Jewish friends at the risk of the possible execution of my wife and young sons? I’m glad that is a hypothetical question. I’m glad I have never been in a position to find out and pray I never will be. Diaries of many Kamikaze show that they were coerced into what they did and threatened with consequences to their families. In one scene a young pilot stalls his plane above the airfield and allows it to fall back to earth. Again, a brave act against the leaders of the time.

Regardless of the political nature of these films, and especially now at a time when populism and extremism are rife in the world, I hope the questions they ask, are met bravely by the young people who watch them.

My next read on this topic will be ‘Kamikaze Diaries’ – here is an interview with the author for anyone interested in another perspective.

https://www.wpr.org/listen/399826

That’s exactly what Miyabe says to his young protégés in this film. I can only imagine it is based around Kurita’s rationale. He doesn’t want them to be killed so wastefully - he views that they need to be ready for what comes next. It doesn’t help him or them ultimately, such is the pressure from above.

This looks great Paul. I have done something similar using tape to pull up the green paint. The base coat of silver remains behind.

I accidentally stumbled across this method by accident many years ago when I was building up a Tamiya 1/48 Ki-84.

I had sprayed a very nice base coat of “metallizer” Aluminum Plate and Stainless Steel Colors. I polished it to a high shine. The plane looked good as it was in a bare metal finish but I wanted it to be IJA Green on top.

So I sprayed on the green. Next I decided to spray on the yellow leading edge wing ID stripes, since I was not sure how the decals provided for this would hold up over time.

I masked the stripes off and sprayed the yellow.

Now it’s really looking great... Then I started removing the tape I used for the yellow ID stripes.

That’s when a big chunk of green paint came off with the tape. I thought immediately I had just ruined my hard work.

Then the lightbulb went off and I had a brainstorm idea.

Why not make it look weathered and chip off some more IJN Green paint ?

So I started doing that using tape in the high traffic areas where the ground crew and pilot would have been walking (or working on) the plane.

Before I knew it, the plane was done. I thought it looked cool so I took it to a IPMS event.

As luck would have it, I was asked if they could take some pictures of the model. Believe me I was surprised and they didn’t have to ask me twice !

It ended up being published in this issue of the “Fine Scale Modeler” magazine...

I was shocked ! I never saw that coming. This was the old school Tamiya kit that was originally made in the 1970’s... and it makes the magazine. It’s probably more like a 1/50 scale model and it’s still in the Tamiya catalogue. Even though it is an older kit, it still is a fun one to build.

How is the fit on your Tamiya A6M-3 clip wing Zero ? I have a few in the stash and have been thinking about this stuff recently.

They’re probably going to be on the work bench in a few more months.

Please let me know how it assembled.

Thanks

Louis - I remember seeing that photo in FSM and saying "Hmmm, that looks like it works."

Here’s a quick update. Louis, very much on line with your approach. Still a way to go, but learning that technique. Of the two remaining A6Ms will be a newish A6M5 machine and the other a heavily weathered A6M2. The planes used for Kamikaze attacks I think would be made good to get to their targets but (as per the film) might not be painted to perfection.

The idea behind this first plane is that it was painted in the field - green over ‘amber grey’. I don’t feel too bad about colour accuracy given I am covering the subject of a film and not the real thing. However evidence clearly exists that this type of overpainting happened.

Here’s another of the cockpit in place and some chipping.

That's too kind as ever, David - let's see how the painting goes with this lot!

And thanks for your well-measured comment on the conversations here. I have read a fair bit during this build - more reading than building to be honest. I've wrestled with this thread as it has gone on - especially after its inauspicious start. Felt like binning it at a number of points, too. I may be naive, but I don't think you'd find too many building for partisan political reasons, or to commemorate evil. So if we can take that as a given, it boils down to what we achieve as we do it. Essentially it is a movie thread - and these are major movies - propaganda or not. I've tried never to lose sight of that.

But questions of atrocity, nationalism and the unique, hugely emotive and complex situations that wars throw at pretty much all involved, will never be far from our hobby due to what we build and the men linked to the machines. A significant group of modellers choose their builds based on the stories they tell. I've got a number of Hueys that will be coming up for the movie thread - surely 'Apocalypse Now' is as controversial as these films? Young men and women being forced to do lunatic things by unhinged leaders - I guess that's a theme that runs though all conflict.

Luckily, young men and women also find it within themselves to do brave things to oppose 'evil'. I have noticed that my modelling seems to follow an almost schizophrenic path. Each time a 'heavy' subject (Rommel, a U-boat or Kamikaze) comes along it is followed by something traditionally heroic (Malan or McKnight).

As such, the antidote to Kamikaze, both literally (at the time) and figuratively is going to be some FAA subjects from the British Pacific Fleet - founded on the eve of victory in Europe. So a Hellcat flying off Indomitable within a couple of days of it being hit by a kamikaze; a Corsair and a Seafire - all involved in the conflict over Japan, after the battle in europe had ended, will all hit the bench soon.