SUICIDE CLIFF AT SAIPAN
CHOOSING DEATH INSTEAD OF DEFEAT
Thousands of Japanese soldiers and civilians chose death rather than surrender.
There actions remain controversial.
It was the largest mass suicide of the Pacific war.
Their determination to die for their beliefs is still an inspiration to many.
They sought an entrance to the gates of paradise.
This essay does not condone their actions
but it does represent an effort to understand their thinking.
A road to another world.
The judgment of the souls.
Here is the last view of earth that many saw.
Another monument to the dead.
Saipan and US War Crimes
The fall of Saipan enabled the US conquest of Tinian next door.
This was a decisive turning point in the war.
Japan was now within rang of America's giant bomber fleet.
On Tinian America built the largest bomber base in the world.
From here America launched some of the greatest war crimes in history.
The fire bombing of Tokyo and the nuclear attacks on Japan were launched from Tinian.
The dead of Saipan are remembered at the Yasakuni shrine in Tokyo today.
Japan has been rebuilt since the war.
However, old ideas remain.
Nations rise and fall but ideas live on.
Today the ideas of Imperial Japan are read around the world.
The spirit of the Samurai is likely to be reborn.
It floats as a ghost in the digital world of the internet.
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