The symbolism of cherry blossoms in pre-Meiji Japan -- The road to pro rege et patria mori: naturalization of imperial nationalism -- The making of the tokkōtai pilots -- Nationalisms, patriotisms, and the role of aesthetics in Méconnaissance
Summary
Why did almost one thousand highly educated ""student soldiers"" volunteer to serve in Japan's tokkotai (kamikaze) operations near the end of World War II, even though Japan was losing the war? In this fascinating study of the role of symbolism and aesthetics in totalitarian ideology, Emiko Ohnuki-Tierney shows how the state manipulated the time-honored Japanese symbol of the cherry blossom to convince people that it was their honor to ""die like beautiful falling cherry petals"" for the emperor. Drawing on diaries never before published in English, Ohnuki-Tierney describes
Bibliography
Includes bibliographical references (pages 373-399) and index
