Last flight: Why did one young Japanese woman join her pilot husband on kamikaze mission?". Mainichi Daily News. 24 August 2022 . Retrieved 8 October 2022. Ohnuki-Tierney, Emiko (2002). Kamikaze, Cherry Blossoms, and Nationalisms: The Militarization of Aesthetics in Japanese History. University of Chicago Press. ISBN 978-0226620916. On 11 March, the U.S. carrier USS Randolph was hit and moderately damaged at Ulithi Atoll, in the Caroline Islands, by a kamikaze that had flown almost 4,000km (2,500mi) from Japan, in a mission called Operation Tan No. 2. On 20 March, the submarine USS Devilfish survived a hit from an aircraft just off Japan. O'Neill, Richard (1988). Suicide Squads (in Japanese). Translated by Yoshio Masuda. Kasumi Publishing. ISBN 978-4876022045. DiGiulian, Tony (September 2006). "United States of America 20 mm/70 (0.79") Marks 2, 3 & 4". navweaps.com . Retrieved 25 February 2007.

Mulero, Alexis R., Fusata Iida: WWII's first 'Kamikaza' pilot. Marine Corps Base Hawaii, United States Marine Corps. 7 December 2001. New York Times, The Saturday Profile; Shadow Shogun Steps Into Light, to Change Japan. Published: 11 February 2006. Retrieved 15 February 2007 Shortly afterward, the main strength of the Japanese Army began to lay down its arms in surrender per the Emperor's broadcast. The Soviet–Japanese War, and World War II, had come to an end. Parshall, Jonathan B., Tully, Anthony P. (2005). Shattered Sword. Washington: Potomac Books. ISBN 978-1574889239Yuri Kageyama of Associated Press wrote: “The pilots filed into the room and were presented with a form that asked if they wanted to be kamikaze. It was multiple-choice, and there were three answers: "I passionately wish to join," ''I wish to join," and "I don't wish to join." This was 1945. Many were university students who had been previously exempt from service, but now Japan was running out of troops. [Source: Yuri Kageyama, Associated Press, June 17, 2015 +++] Saigo no Tokkōtai [88] (最後の特攻隊, The Last Kamikaze in English), released in 1970, produced by Toei, directed by Junya Sato and starring Kōji Tsuruta, Ken Takakura and Shinichi Chiba https://www.history.navy.mil/content/history/museums/nmusn/explore/photography/wwii/wwii-japan/kamikaze/pre-okinawa.html . Retrieved 30 August 2023.

Yuri Kageyama of Associated Press wrote: “Books and movies have depicted them as crazed suicide bombers who screamed "Banzai" as they met their end. But interviews with survivors and families by The Associated Press, as well as letters and documents, offer a different portrait — of men driven by patriotism, self-sacrifice and necessity. The world they lived in was like that multiple-choice form: It contained no real options. [Source: Yuri Kageyama, Associated Press, June 17, 2015 +++] Stern, Robert (2010). Fire from the Sky: Surviving the Kamikaze Threat. Naval Institute Press. ISBN 978-1591142676. a b c King, Dan (July 2012). "4 Imaizumi". The Last Zero Fighter: Firsthand Accounts from WWII Japanese Naval Pilots. Yet, although acutely conscious of how little time we had, I saw in your eyes and in your gaze all you wanted to say but couldn’t.The difficulty of the journey you made to see me was clearly evident in your disheveled hair and in the hollows under your eyes-it made me want to bend my knees and worship before you. In the wrinkles on your brows was vivid testimony of the pains you took to raise me. Words could not express my feelings, and what little I did say was superficial in the extreme. King, Dan (2012). The Last Zero Fighter Firsthand Accounts from WWII Japanese Naval Pilots. California: Pacific Press. ISBN 978-1468178807. https://www.usni.org/magazines/naval-history-magazine/2005/april/hellish-prelude-okinawa . Retrieved 30 August 2023.

Kamikaze pilots who were unable to complete their missions (because of mechanical failure, interception, etc.) were stigmatized in the years following the war. This stigma began to diminish some 50 years after the war as scholars and publishers began to distribute the survivors' stories. [81] Ivan Morris, The Nobility of Failure: Tragic Heroes in the History of Japan, p284 Holt, Rinehart and Winston, 1975

Masao Kanai died on a kamikaze mission near Okinawa in 1945. He was 23. Under a program that encouraged students to support the imperialist military, he had been pen pals with a 17-year-old schoolgirl, Toshi Negishi. All in all, they exchanged 200 letters. They tried to go on a date, just once, when he had a rare opportunity to get out of training and visit Tokyo. But that was March 10, 1945, right after the massive air raids known as the firebombing of Tokyo. So they never met. +++ The important Japanese base of Saipan fell to the Allied forces on 15 July 1944. Its capture provided adequate forward bases that enabled U.S. air forces using the Boeing B-29 Superfortress to strike at the Japanese home islands. After the fall of Saipan, the Japanese High Command predicted that the Allies would try to capture the Philippines, strategically important to Tokyo because of the islands' location between the oilfields of Southeast Asia and Japan. Ohnuki-Tierney, Emiko (2007). Kamikaze Diaries: Reflections of Japanese Student Soldiers. University of Chicago Press. p.10. ISBN 978-0226620923 . Retrieved 2 June 2021. In Masao Kanai’s final letter to his family he wrote: "I don't know where to begin. Rain is falling softly. A song is playing quietly on the radio. It’s a peaceful evening. We'll wait for the weather to clear up and fly on our mission. If it hadn't been for this rain, I'd be long gone by now." [Source: Yuri Kageyama, Associated Press, June 17, 2015 +++]

As an aside, at war's end, the Japanese had, by actual count, a total of 16,397 aircraft still available for service, including 6,374 operational fighters and bombers, and if they had used only the fighters and bombers for Ivan Morris, The Nobility of Failure: Tragic Heroes in the History of Japan, p. 289 Holt, Rinehart and Winston, 1975 Assault on the Pacific – Kamikaze (2007), directed by Taku Shinjo (Original title: "俺は、君のためにこそ死ににいく" Ore wa, Kimi no Tame ni Koso Shini ni Iku) Honorable Mother, even if I was never able to fully accept the love you gave me, I received so much wisdom from you. And Father, your silent words are carved deeply into my heart. With this I will be able to fight together with you both. Even if I should die, it will be with a peaceful spirit. The war zone is where these beautiful emotions are put to the test. If death means a return to this world of love, there is no need for me to fear. There is nothing left to do but press on and fulfill my duty.Kennedy, Maxwell Taylor: Danger's Hour, The Story of the USS Bunker Hill and the Kamikaze Pilot who Crippled Her, Simon and Schuster, New York, 2008 ISBN 978-0743260800 Axell, Albert; Hideaki, Kase (2002). Kamikaze: Japan's Suicide Gods. New York: Longman. ISBN 058277232X. https://www.usni.org/magazines/proceedings/1958/november/san-francisco-story . Retrieved 30 August 2023.