Really? Were they hoping they'd get radioed the mission was cancelled?

That's actually extremely accurate. Westerners don't really fully understand kamakaze. The soldiers actually go through a ritual honoring the emperor before their flight, consuming sake (an honorable act in many asian cultures, to drink to your emperor). These pilots are dressed as warriors, kamakaze is a matter of honor.

One pilot was so pissed off at his commander for forcing him to go on a mission, he strafed HQ on the way out. Others chickened out or flew out begrudgingly, cursing at their commanding officers, Those ceremonial videos were for propaganda purposes. Still kamikazes were very effective accounting for 1 out of 7 casualties in the Pacific just at Okinawa.
BTW Japan still had 5-7 thousand planes ready for an American invasion when the A-Bomb was dropped.

Why do stores that are open 24/7 have locks on the doors ?
Ahh , the mysteries of life .

The Japanese at that time had some seriously messed-up thinking, incomprehensible to us, then and now. They purposely indoctrinated and trained pilots for a one-way trip, and the pilots knew they would be killed. Most of the aircraft used were old and obsolete, most of their first-line aircraft having been shot down, but they built a number of purpose-built suicide aircraft, essentially a missile with a man to guide it. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yokosuka_MXY7_Ohka Even in the waning days of the war, the Germans weren't this crazy. They considered ramming attacks, but this was with the assumption that the pilot would bail out just before impact.

Just because it is a culture foreign to you, it doesn't make it "messed-up." I'm not saying I agree with kamakaze, but I'm saying point of life is to understand "not everyone thinks like us."

What the kamakaze were technically, were the very 1st smart guidance missiles. They also have kamakaze submarines, which were smart guidance torpedoes. This paved the way into modern era where the pilot are now replaced with computer chips.

The Japanese were innovative even back then.

It is also interesting to note that this isn't like a suicide bombing of the Mideast, though they too claim it is for honor. The Japanese had a larger picture, which is victory at all cost. And the fact is, kamakaze were extremely successful... well... maybe not enough to turn the tide, but they were successful enough to demoralize the American troops hoping for the "liberals" back home to protest and draw the war to a close. Yes that was actually their plan, pushing for a pyrrhic victory for the Americans, a victory where the losses are so devastating that it is more of a defeat. The Japanese general who defended Iwo Jima was classically trained in the US and had knowledge of US politics. This is why he defended Iwo Jima despite knowing it was a loss.

The kamakaze eventually forced Truman to drop the atomic bomb and force a Japanese surrender. The Japanese were ready to defend their homeland from a US invasion rather than surrender, at the cost of all their lives. Victory at all cost.

I feel like I'm in rarified company, thanks!

Woohoo! :)

Passwords become extinct
in 90 days!!!!

to keep them alive long enough to kamikaze