Word: torihama
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...tribute at what was once the nation's biggest kamikaze base. Locals speculate that demoralized Japanese come here in search of heroes. Or because Sept. 11 sparked increasing curiosity about Japan's own suicide bombers. But most know they come because of a Chiran woman named Tome Torihama whom the kamikazes called...
...around her place. She cooked their favorite meals, smuggled their farewell letters to sweethearts past military censors, and gave the airmen their final hugs goodbye. Tome, then a middle-aged mother of two girls, "often said she cherished each (pilot) as if he were her own son," says Akihisa Torihama, 42, her grandson and a resident of Chiran...
...After the war, the public turned against the kamikazes. "The world thought they were crazy fanatics who died shouting banzai for the Emperor," says Hatsuyo Torihama, who is married to another of Tome's grandchildren. Tome waged a one-woman battle to untaint their memory, showing the soldiers' photos to customers and collecting donations for the town to put up a statue of the goddess of mercy in 1955. "But no one came," says Hatsuyo. "Not a soul...
...three kids. "My children need to know the importance of peace." This would surely have pleased Tome. "(Before she died,) she was writing to then President George Bush, asking him to end the Gulf War," says her grandson Akihisa. "If people can relate to a woman like Tome Torihama, then there's hope for Japan?and the world...
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