My Life: Interview with TV Director Yasuko Isono, Part 11
Jun. 26, 2013
Manned torpedoes
by Takahiro Yamase, Staff Writer
Conveying chagrin of the war dead
In 1985, a documentary directed by Ms. Isono won the Excellence Award at the National Arts Festival, sponsored by the Agency for Cultural Affairs; the Galaxy Award from the Japan Council for Better Radio and Television; and the Hoso Bunka Foundation (HBF) Prize. The program, which depicted the lives of young soldiers who took part in suicide attacks as crewmen of “manned torpedoes,” called “kaiten” in Japanese, toward the end of World War II, was broadcast in 1984.
It all started when I was working in radio, covering a memorial ceremony held at the Kaiten Museum in the city of Shunan, the location of a former training site for manned torpedoes. At the ceremony, the “death notes” of around five crewmen were read aloud. These messages were filled with heroic sentiments like “Yamato-damashii”--“the indomitable spirit of the Japanese.”
The last note was written by a young man named Minoru Wada. It said: “I will offer to my nation the bloom of my youth.” Its tone was so poetic, and tinged with lingering chagrin. Because I was raised near the Imperial Japanese Navy Academy on the island of Etajima, I felt a close kinship with him. When I saw that these intelligent young soldiers also held such sensitive thoughts, I had a desire to explore Minoru Wada’s character more deeply.
Second Lieutenant Minoru Wada was drafted into service while he was still a student at Tokyo Imperial University (today’s University of Tokyo). In July 1945, during a training session, his manned torpedo malfunctioned and he lost control of the craft. He was suffocated in the mishap.
At first I thought Minoru had been a student at the Navy Academy, but that was not the case. When I learned this, about two years before the program aired, I went searching for his younger sister Wakana. She agreed to be interviewed.
Wakana held four diaries that Minoru had kept, complete with leather covers. Finding clues from these diaries, I decided to pay visits to people that had had ties with him to produce a film. In those days, Prime Minister Yasuhiro Nakasone removed the 1% cap on Japan’s defense budget, and the nation’s defense expenditures were growing. I wondered what people of the time would think about the “death notes” found in such diaries.
Among Minoru’s surviving comrades from the war were the president of a large company and a Buddhist monk in black robes who lived in the A-bombed city. These men endured the post-war period on behalf of the dead and contributed to Japan’s reconstruction. Thanks to their accounts I was able to capture the life and death of Minoru Wada, and the real picture of kaiten.
Ms. Isono’s program also aired on NHK Educational Television in July of 1985.
It was a rare instance of a program produced by a commercial broadcaster being shown on public television. In the speech I gave after receiving the HBF Prize, I said, “Programs produced by local stations are rarely shown on nationwide TV. It’s regrettable that even well-received programs cannot reach a larger audience.” I learned later that the president of NHK had heard my remarks. And thanks to his consideration, Minoru’s family and those who appeared in the program were able to view it.
The film had no preconceived script. One wartime comrade would refer me to another and the course opened on its own as I was shooting. The process embodied the true nature of documentary filmmaking, and this is the kind of work I love.
(Originally published on December 26, 2010)
by Takahiro Yamase, Staff Writer
Conveying chagrin of the war dead
In 1985, a documentary directed by Ms. Isono won the Excellence Award at the National Arts Festival, sponsored by the Agency for Cultural Affairs; the Galaxy Award from the Japan Council for Better Radio and Television; and the Hoso Bunka Foundation (HBF) Prize. The program, which depicted the lives of young soldiers who took part in suicide attacks as crewmen of “manned torpedoes,” called “kaiten” in Japanese, toward the end of World War II, was broadcast in 1984.
It all started when I was working in radio, covering a memorial ceremony held at the Kaiten Museum in the city of Shunan, the location of a former training site for manned torpedoes. At the ceremony, the “death notes” of around five crewmen were read aloud. These messages were filled with heroic sentiments like “Yamato-damashii”--“the indomitable spirit of the Japanese.”
The last note was written by a young man named Minoru Wada. It said: “I will offer to my nation the bloom of my youth.” Its tone was so poetic, and tinged with lingering chagrin. Because I was raised near the Imperial Japanese Navy Academy on the island of Etajima, I felt a close kinship with him. When I saw that these intelligent young soldiers also held such sensitive thoughts, I had a desire to explore Minoru Wada’s character more deeply.
Second Lieutenant Minoru Wada was drafted into service while he was still a student at Tokyo Imperial University (today’s University of Tokyo). In July 1945, during a training session, his manned torpedo malfunctioned and he lost control of the craft. He was suffocated in the mishap.
At first I thought Minoru had been a student at the Navy Academy, but that was not the case. When I learned this, about two years before the program aired, I went searching for his younger sister Wakana. She agreed to be interviewed.
Wakana held four diaries that Minoru had kept, complete with leather covers. Finding clues from these diaries, I decided to pay visits to people that had had ties with him to produce a film. In those days, Prime Minister Yasuhiro Nakasone removed the 1% cap on Japan’s defense budget, and the nation’s defense expenditures were growing. I wondered what people of the time would think about the “death notes” found in such diaries.
Among Minoru’s surviving comrades from the war were the president of a large company and a Buddhist monk in black robes who lived in the A-bombed city. These men endured the post-war period on behalf of the dead and contributed to Japan’s reconstruction. Thanks to their accounts I was able to capture the life and death of Minoru Wada, and the real picture of kaiten.
Ms. Isono’s program also aired on NHK Educational Television in July of 1985.
It was a rare instance of a program produced by a commercial broadcaster being shown on public television. In the speech I gave after receiving the HBF Prize, I said, “Programs produced by local stations are rarely shown on nationwide TV. It’s regrettable that even well-received programs cannot reach a larger audience.” I learned later that the president of NHK had heard my remarks. And thanks to his consideration, Minoru’s family and those who appeared in the program were able to view it.
The film had no preconceived script. One wartime comrade would refer me to another and the course opened on its own as I was shooting. The process embodied the true nature of documentary filmmaking, and this is the kind of work I love.
(Originally published on December 26, 2010)
