ABSTRACT
Kou Takeda remembers seeing aircraft carriers and navy planes coming and going from his hometown of Saiki as a child. “I was born in 1929. The naval air force base construction was completed when I was five years old. My father took me to the opening ceremony. The naval headquarters was the first building the local residents had ever seen made of concrete and steel. When the war started with China in the 1930s, Saiki was the home base of most of the navy planes that attacked China.” To young Kou, war seemed an exciting and romantic prospect, with young pilots dashing around town during training breaks visiting the restaurants and entertainment district in town. At the time, China seemed a faraway land occupied by Japan, while Pearl Harbor had never been heard of. But that would soon change.
