Monday, April 20, 2026

Memoirs of a Kamikaze Book Review

Japan Book Review: Memoirs of a Kamikaze: A World War II Pilot's Inspiring Story of Survival, Honor and Reconciliation

by Kazuo Odachi

ISBN: 978-4-8053-1575-0
Tuttle Publishing, 2020
192 pp; hardcover

Our order was simple: die."

What were the mindsets and motivations of Japan's World War II kamikaze pilots? Since it is impossible to ask "successful" kamikaze pilots, we'll have to go with the words of their "unsuccessful" brothers, the ones who didn't die. Were these pilots all really volunteers?

Kamikaze Kazuo Odachi, the author who survived eight suicide missions because he was unable to find targets worth killing himself for, said he and his fellow pilots did indeed volunteer…"as if we had a choice."

Memoirs of a Kamikaze is a fascinating look into the life of a brave, altruistic and resilient, if not fatalistic, warrior.
Odachi joined the military at age 16 wanting to become a pilot and defend the honor of Japan. He didn't join the kamikaze corps; he was gently pushed into a corner where he had little choice.
The first half of the book takes the reader from his volunteering to join the military, through his training as a zero pilot to his last, aborted mission. He was wheeling his zero down the runway with a specific target in mind when he his mission was called off. The war had ended.

The second half of the book is about Odachi after he returns from the war. He had actually decided to stay in Taiwan for the rest of his life, becoming a farmer and marrying a local girl, but American troops came to the village where he was and put the kibosh on that idea. Readers interested solely in the kamikaze part of the book may be tempted to stop reading at the halfway point, but Odachi's life proves to be interesting until the end.

He becomes a police officer in Tokyo and steadily works his way up the chain of command, becoming a top-notch investigator and solving some important and famous cases. The last part of the book focuses on his life-long love of kendo, and even that is informative, insightful and entertaining at times.

Odachi himself didn't write the book. After having kept his kamikaze background secret for the better part of 70 years, he finally opened up at age 87 and told two authors his story. The book was originally written in Japanese, then translated into English in 2020. The translators did a remarkable job with the voice used throughout the book. Odachi's voice changes from sounding like a teenaged kamikaze pilot at the start of the book, to sounding like a middle-aged police detective and finally sounding like a wise, sharp-minded kendo master approaching 90.

Odachi's strength of mind is inspiring. The book has numerous interesting historical insights and perspectives.
Reading this book will make many people wish they could have shared a meal with him and picked his brain, and that is the sign of a worthwhile book.

Review by Marshall Hughes, author of Rural Reflections: What 11 Years in Provincial Japan Taught Me.

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