[1] Hiroaki Sato, “Foreseeing the future – and ignoring it,” Japan Times, January 26, 2004.

[2] Most such words Japan adopted came from ancient Chinese texts. Gyokusai comes from a passage from the History of North Qi: “A great man might as well die as a jewel shatters; he cannot be like a tile left untouched.” North Qi was a Chinese Dynasty that lasted briefly, from 550 to 577.

[3] The Daihon'ei (Imperial Headquarters) announcement cited in the Japanese Wikipedia article on gyokusai, as well as this site on the Attu gyokusai.

[4] Dates of battles and numbers of casualties here are mostly taken from Wikipedia (Japanese and English) and other readily available sources. They can differ from site to site, from one account to another.

[5] Robert Sharrod, reporting from Iwo Jima for Life, wrote: “The island had been bombed for 74 straight days before D-Day. In January it had been thoroughly shelled by cruisers and battleships. For three days prior to D-Day many cruisers, battleships and destroyers poured more than 8,000 tons of high explosives on the eight square miles of Iwo Jima” (Reporting World War II: Part Two: American Journalism 1944-1946, Library of America, 1995, pp. 634-638). This shows that counting the duration of a battle from the day of landing makes little sense.

[6] Ooka Shohei's Leyte Senki (Chuo Koron Sha, 1974), Vol. 3, p. 288. Ooka, a survivor of the Battle of the Philippines who went on to write such novels as Fire on the Plain and Taken Captive, wrote the detailed account of the Battle of Leyte Gulf “for the soldiers who died.”

[7] The proper term was “special attack force” (tokubetsu kogekitai, abbr. tokkotai). The Navy's initial unit was named Shimpu, the sinified reading of a set of two Chinese characters (Chinese: Shenfeng), but the news accounts soon started giving it in its Japanese reading, Kamikaze, which stuck.

[8] Referring to Vice Adm. Kurita Takeo's decision to abandon the battle in the Leyte Gulf midway, Ooka observed: “… when you really think about it, [Kurita's failure to follow through the operation plans] corresponds to the inability of Japan as a whole to carry out, in August 1945, the [government's call for] 100-million gyokusai.” Leyte Senki, Vol. 1, p. 259.

[9] The words of Vice Adm. Kusaka Ryunosuke, chief-of-staff of the Combined Fleet. See, for example, Yoshida Mitsuru's life of Ito Seiichi, Teitoku Ito Seiichi no Shogai (Bungei Shunju, 1977), p. 161. Chapter 11 of his book is an attempt to puzzle out the “irrationality” of the action. Yoshida, a survivor of the sinking of the Yamato, wrote Requiem for Battleship Yamato.

[10] Hayashi Shigeru, Taiheiyo Senso (Chuo Koron Sha, 1967; Vol. 25 of Nihon no Rekishi), pp. 340-342. His Majesty's Aide-de-Camp Jo Eiichiro's diary records the Showa Emperor's concern about the fate of Attu. See Hando Kazutoshi's compilation Showa-shi Tansaku, Vol. 6 (Chikuma Shobo, 2007), pp. 232-241.

[11] In Bowers' talk at JETRO New York in the fall of 1995 to commemorate the 50th anniversary of Japan's surrender. Sato's translation of the talk in the November 1995 issue of OCS News.

[12] Senjinkun and Shirane Takayuki's account cited in full in Hando Kazutoshi's Showa-shi Tansaku, Vol. 5, pp.143-157.

[13] The Internet site on the Attu gyokusai cited in note 3 carries Yamazaki's wireless message in its entirety (with a couple of orthographic errors). If the message cited here reproduces the original, Hayashi, quoting it, p. 341, toned it down considerably. His Majesty's Aide-de-Camp Jo (see note 10), noting the gyokusai in his entry on May 30, 1943, added a parenthetical remark: “In recent times, ‘moving stories’ from the frontline, in many cases, appear [intended] to make up for operational deficiencies.” Jo was killed in battle as captain of the aircraft carrier Chiyoda on October 25, 1944 during the Battle of Leyte Gulf. In his oral recollections of the war, Ooka Shohei said that the Imperial Guard Infantry Regiment, to which he was assigned after being drafted at age 35, despised the Senjinkun in general and Article 8, Part II, in particular. Ooka, Senso (Iwanami Shoten, 2007; originally 1970), p. 60.

[14] Hiroaki Sato, Legends of the Samurai (Overlook Press, 1995), pp. 17-18. Umi Yukaba can readily be heard on the Internet. Click here for a youtube video.

[15] Technically, Japan had no national anthem until the Japanese government recently made Kimigayo the official anthem.

[16] Shigure Otowa's Nihon Kayoshu (Shakai Shiso Sha, 1963). p. 295. Roei no Uta can also be heard on the Internet. Click here for a youtube video.

[17] Hando's Showa-shi Tansaku, Vol. 6, pp. 257-259.

[18] Helen Mears, Mirror for Americans: Japan (Houghton Mifflin Company, 1948), p. 81.

[19] Mears, p. 88.

[20] The daylong bombing involving 1,300 aircraft on October 10, 1944 destroyed 90% of Naha City. Governor Izumi Shuki, along with other prefectural officials, began shirking work; Izumi, as a matter of fact, secured appointment as governor of Kagawa while visiting Tokyo and never returned to Okinawa. Shimada Akira, newly appointed governor in January 1945, arrived on the thirty-first and ordered all prefectural employees to return to work. On March 24th US pre-landing bombardment began, forcing Shimada to disperse government work to five different caves the following day. From then on he had to move from cave to cave until early July when, injured, he shot himself. See “Saigo no Okinawa Kenchiji,” Yomota Inuhiko ed., Nakano Yoshio (Chikuma Shobo, 1993), pp. 208-254. Also, Tanaka Yozo, Okinawa no Shimamori (Chuo Koron Sha, 2006; originally 2003).