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There was a man smoking a cigarette in a coffee shop in Nagoya. Kyoichi Okamoto was 90 years old (at the time of the interview). He was a surviving crew member of the Kaiten, a human torpedo developed when defeat was looming. Kaiten was a suicide weapon modified to carry a man. It was loaded with 1.5 tons of explosives at the tip and launched from a submarine. It would ram into enemy ships from the sea. No escape device was built, so it was a weapon that always resulted in death when it was deployed. 106 people died in the war, with an average age of 21. The developer was Major Hiroshi Kuroki from Gero City, Gifu Prefecture. He wrote a petition to the higher-ups with his own blood and succeeded in developing it. The meaning behind the Kaiten was "to turn the heavens and turn the tide of the war." What was Kuroki's thinking? Okamoto, a surviving crew member, occasionally visits Otsushima in Shunan City, Yamaguchi Prefecture. This is the island where the Kaiten was developed and trained. He says it is a "sacred place." What were the crew members thinking as they trained? 70 years after the war, these young people who became weapons spoke out about their thoughts. CBC TV, broadcast in August 2015 #Kaiten #Human Torpedoes #Documentary #70 Years After the War #Young People Who Became Weapons #Pacific War #Takito Kenichi #CBC Chant #War CBC TV "Chant!" Monday to Friday 3:49pm to 7pm Broadcast in Aichi, Gifu and Mie