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Zero Pilot Hears the Drums of War in Midst of a Younger, Unaware Japan

The New York Times

April 3, 2015

NAGANO, Japan — Kaname Harada was once a feared samurai of the sky, shooting down 19 Allied aircraft as a pilot of Japan’s legendary Zero fighter plane during World War II. Now 98 years old and in failing health, the former ace is on what he calls his final mission: using his wartime experiences to warn Japan against ever going to war again.

This has become a timely issue in Japan, as the conservative prime minister, Shinzo Abe, has called for revising Japan’s pacifist Constitution. On a recent afternoon in this alpine city near his home, Mr. Harada was invited to address a ballroom filled with some 200 tax accountants and their business clients.

After slowly ascending the stage with the help of his daughter, he stopped to hang up hand-drawn war maps and a sepia-toned photo of himself as a young pilot in a leather flight suit glaring fearlessly into the camera.

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Links:

Kaname Harada recalls the horrors of the Battle of Midway for a Hawaiian audience [Hawaii Political Info] Jun 6, 2010

Senator Daniel Inouye, WWII combat vet, echoes Harada's anti-war sentiments in a speech just one month before he passed away [YouTube, 8 min]