Pretty Much the Same Thing

Yuki Tanaka’s (2008) piece titled “Japan’s Kamikaze Pilots and Contemporary Suicide Bombers: War and Terror” deals with the Japanese suicide pilots of World War II and “contemporary suicide bombers” (p. 298).  Tanaka enlightens the reader to the possible psychological reasoning behind these suicidal acts of terrorism and explores the similarities and differences between the two.  At the end of the piece Tanaka draws the conclusion that the bombing of civilians by the military are just as much acts of terrorism as the actions of the kamikaze pilots and suicide bombers.  

Tanaka starts off his article with several statistics which sets an informative tone and instils confidence in his audience.  He comes across as well studied and believable.  The tone changes as he moves through his writing to a more emotionally charged style.  Tanaka stops using statistical information; he gives a strong personal opinion which is not wholly based on facts. 

Different “psychological themes” are described for explanation of the kamikaze pilots’ motives for participating in these suicidal missions, such as: “praise and honor to their parents”, “strong solidarity with their flight-mates”, and “a lack of an image of the enemy” (p. 296-297).  This successfully demonstrates a different perspective of a Japanese suicide pilot; one in which we see the human rather than the monster. 

Tanaka’s comparisons of Kamikaze pilots with suicide bombers show several similarities, for example: “In both cases, concrete images of the victims may be lacking in the attackers’ mind, thus the actions of killing others becomes ritualised” (p. 298).  The two acts of terrorism are shown to be on a similar level.

In the last paragraph Tanaka gets his main point across to the reader.  These suicide missions are atrocious acts of terrorism, but so are the bombings of civilians that are considered “legitimate military operations” in countries such as Iraq (p. 300).

 Is it possible that Canada and the U.S.A. commit acts of terrorism?           

Tanaka, Y. (2008). Japan’s kamikaze pilots and contemporary suicide bombers.  

In Ackley, K., Blank, G., & Hume, S. (Eds). Perspectives on contemporary

 issues. (pp. 294-300). Toronto: Nelson.