午夜剧场

It all began when I encountered a certain set of documents. These were "voice recordings" that had been stored away in a U.S. Air Force facility for half a century. They were audio records of interviews conducted within the military. The witnesses were 246 U.S. Air Force officers. These officers, who were at the heart of the military during the Pacific War, spoke candidly about their true feelings and intentions.

"War is a wonderful opportunity," "Defeating Japan with air power alone," "Showing off air power to the Army and Navy"...

On the surface, the United States upheld "justice and humanity." However, what was being discussed was a completely different, independent agenda of the Air Force. Behind the scenes of the indiscriminate bombing of Japan was the ambition to become an independent branch within the U.S. military, and the results of the air raids were the stepping stones to achieving that goal.

I have long wondered about something. Seventy-six years ago, why did Japan have to be bombed so thoroughly? At that time, Japan's defeat was imminent, and an American victory was certain. Nevertheless, in the less than one year leading up to the end of the war, 460,000 people were killed. The clues to finding the answer lay in more than 300 hours of voice recordings.

Each testimony became a piece of the puzzle, revealing the truth behind the indiscriminate bombing of Japan. Even Curtis LeMay, notorious as the "mastermind" of the Great Tokyo Air Raid, was merely a pawn in the quest for Air Force independence, driven into a corner by increasingly perverse orders. "If I didn't produce results, I'd be fired. It was incredibly lonely."

Behind LeMay, the figure of Henry Arnold emerges—the head of the Air Force who meticulously prepared and executed what could be called the worst indiscriminate bombing in history. And the air strike strategy that led to that indiscriminate bombing was created by a man whom Arnold looked up to as a mentor. He was a man of such foresight that he had predicted the attack on Pearl Harbor 17 years before it happened, and his philosophy continues to be passed down today as Air Force doctrine.

This book was written based on research information from the program "Why Was Japan Burned to the Ground?" broadcast on NHK in August 2017. What insights do the voices of these U.S. Air Force officers, questioning us now after half a century, provide? This is the truth of the "Great Air Raids on Japan" seen from the American perspective.

Fuyuto Suzuki

Shincho Shinsho

224 pages, 836 yen (tax included)

*Affiliations and titles are those at the time of publication.