英文の翻訳おねがいします。
沖縄の戦争についての新聞記事です。
英語が得意な方、翻訳よろしくおねがいします。
A kamikaze pilot confessed his desire to live before he left on a suicide mission in World War II, according to a diary recently donated to a museum in Tokyo, which offers a touching glimpse into the thoughts of a young man before his final flight.
Akira Otsuka, from Tokyo's Asakusa district, went unaccounted for after his aircraft left for Okinawa on April 29, 1945. He was 22.
Otsuka, who was scheduled to enter Tohoku University, volunteered to join the Imperial Japanese Navy.
The diary, written in a notebook that has become yellowish over the years, is on display at Wadatsumi no Koe Kinenkan in Tokyo's Bunkyo Ward, which features material on students who died in World War II.
In the diary, Otsuka often emphasized that he was prepared to die for the nation.
"I must devote myself to everyday training to sink enemy aircraft carriers," he wrote.
In an entry on April 1, however, Otsuka confessed that he sometimes gave in to despair, although he had aspired to become a kamikaze pilot.
In an entry the following day, he wrote: "Japan, a divine nation, must definitely win out. I believe I can make up for being an unfilial son by dying for the imperial cause. But is it selfish if I wish to live and fulfill my duties to my parents?"
Makoto Kumagai, 88, Otsuka's classmate in high school in Yamagata, was given the diary about 10 years ago when he visited the home of Otsuka's family to offer incense.
Kumagai, a resident of Hiratsuka, Kanagawa Prefecture, donated the diary to the museum in June so that younger generations can learn about the horrors of war.
"In those days, we could not say we wanted to live," Kumagai said. "Otsuka probably wrote what was in his heart in the diary, even though he bottled up his feelings."
In an entry on April 4, Otsuka described the scene during a visit home where he told his family that he was selected to be a kamikaze pilot.
"Father must have felt sad to know that I will be dying," he wrote. "His face clouded over for a moment, but he encouraged me to carry out my mission, thinking about the country's situation and my responsibility."
He also wrote: "I left my parents after engraving the faces of my father, mother, brother and sister deep in my heart."
The diary ended with an entry on April 19, when Otsuka left Tokyo's Ueno Station and returned to his unit in Ibaraki Prefecture.
"I will take off toward the skies of Okinawa to repay my obligations to my parents," he wrote, 10 days before he left on his suicide mission.
Kumagai has spent a year compiling the personal notes and records of students who went to war into a book.
The book, "Gakuseitachi no Taiheiyo Senso" (The Pacific War of students), will be released in mid-September by publisher Yumekoubou.
"What kind of country was (Japan) that (the students) tried to defend?" Kumagai said. "I want young people to think about that."
Even 66 years after the war, Wadatsumi no Koe Kinenkan still receives material left by students, such as Otsuka's diary.
The museum, currently closed, will reopen Aug. 31. It is open from 1:30 p.m. to 4 p.m. on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays, except for national holidays. Admission is free.
