December 2004 108th Issue

Who Owns What?

by Wichai Pannoi - Lawyer

After a few talks at recent meetings and also in conversations with both by clients and friends, there is both a demand and a request for me to write this article about properties shared by common law couples living together, without legal marriage.

I will not emphasize on married couples, as there are all kinds of law covering them, but only for those who cannot marry one another for whatever reasons of their own. Both for the male-female couples and of the same sex couples, I admit, though that this article is meant more for Farang men (or even other alien men) with their Thai lady friends, but the idea can be applied to all contemporary people all around.

Now if you live together without marriage for a certain period of time even with those of the same sex, with or without having sex with one another, and you share or gain all kinds of assets and properties, generally the stronger sex (men or those who act as men) will end up buying or spending a lot more, or even buying alone. Thailand does not have any direct law for life partnership couples. Only business partnership law can be applied or construed for it and it is usually a worse mess either in or out of the court rooms (more than in business partnership) as most of the time for most of the people at the time of buying is usually in the sweet or honeymoon type period. So the couples never sort out who buys what and with whose money, let alone involving a lawyer or an agreement. If so a lawyer could have prevented a lot of mishaps and less (eventual) lawyer fees! And of course, most couples never keep receipts except in the case of some of those who happen to be the lawyers or some top NCOs.

As I mentioned, Thailand does not have direct law for lover couples to sort out their properties. If and when they have to part with one another, the normal partnership law (for business) can be applied. From my own study, and reading, observation and direct litigation experiences, not too many life partners go to court to fight for their properties. Normally one of the parties just gives up and walks away and leaves the properties to the other party, especially in case of direct registration such as land, condo or vehicles. Movable properties go to whoever possesses or wears them. But now with globalization, a more sophisticated society and with more sophisticated people involved, there could be more disputes and subsequently more court cases in the future. If so, then look for a trial lawyer. Lawyers act on the calls of clients, but only the court is empowered to make the final legal decision. Lawyers do not have to worry about the moral issues at hand as who should get or keep what.

So far in most of the normal male-female life partners, if the local women is poorly educated and not in possession of things, she will walk away if the Farang man does not want to give or the Farang man will walk away and leaves all to the woman. Things will be easier if such couples have children, then they can just give most of their properties to their mutual children. But in the case of more sophisticated women who usually have better education, with of course more friends and families mixing in, and without any mutual children where no one wants to give in, then human witnesses will be more significant if you don‘t have things in writing, and fighting over what belongs to whom!

More often cases of Farang men owning or leasing the house, condo, apartment etc., you wouldn't have to worry so much if your local lady friend is not the complex and uneducated type, as she will likely not involve a lawyer over you. But if she is more sophisticated, combined with her greed and shamelessness and friends or family egging her on, then you could have big problems when you feel that you have bought everything yourself and she does not deserve anything when you want to split from one another! You will need a lawyer, or if you are a poor life partner and want to take some of the properties from her as a life partner, you will need a lawyer too if she doesn't want to share.

As to the case of the same sex sharing or coupling with one another, the party who has not spent much to acquire the properties becomes greedy, and shameless and standing firm to share the properties as life partners. And if you as the main buyer also does not want to give any, then only the courts can decide.

The next and last is similar to a love affair of giving gifts especially when you don‘t live together in the same home. If the other party who has manipulated or tricked or cheated you into buying a lot for them and she or he neglects you or leaves you or plays game with you most of the times, and you finally become sick of her and wanting to end the affair and calling for the return of all the things you have given him or her. If she or he is so stubborn or so thick-faced or so shameless and has no honour to give them back. And you want to go to court to demand the return. Forget it, as Thai courts only force the gifts back to your next of kin below you (children or grandchildren). To lovers or any other friends if you give to them on passion or love or romance, they are considered as gifts forever.

So all in all for the normal life partnership of male-female or even the same sex, if you don‘t want to get into a lot of legal problems, better to prevent it by having a lawyer next to you or have certain and simple agreement in writing first. Or at least try to keep the receipts or evidence of who bought what, before your plunge into living with one another. And if you have not prepared as such, get a trial lawyer but try not to kill one another as both will definitely lose. Life is so beautiful and already short enough! Why end it sooner? Better to live and let live! This way I wouldn't have to talk or write on the topic of “how to knock off your worse half and get away with it”. No! just kidding, I cannot really do such a topic as it is highly un-professional and immoral, though not entirely illegal to give one!

RUNAROUND SUE

-a true story about a bogus lawyer

“Here's my story, sad but true,

‘Bout a bogus lawyer that I once knew,

Took my house and ran around,

Securing loans all over town….”

I am telling my tale here to hopefully persuade other foreign visitors that there is a genuine problem with bogus lawyers. It may also serve as a warning to those who marry a Thai and put their house solely in the name of their partner – no one imagines their marriage will break down but unfortunately it does happen on an all too regular basis.

My story starts at the point my marriage to a Thai broke down irretrievably; I had put everything in her name, and at this point she would not communicate with me at all. After numerous fruitless efforts to get her to talk about what was going to happen from that point on I decided that I should get some legal advice on where I stood. I scanned the legal adverts in the Bangkok Post, and phoned several of them to establish firstly that the firm had a good English speaker, and secondly what their charges would be. Eventually I found one, but really this was Mistake #1; my advice when looking for a lawyer is to either get a list of recommended lawyers from your Embassy, or use one recommended by a trusted friend, and then contact the Law Society of Thailand to check if your intended lawyer is registered with them – if they are not, find another one.

I went to see Mr X (a Malaysian in fact) and agreed that he could handle things for me; the idea was that his firm could act as an intermediary between my wife and I, and draw up an agreement which we would both sign. This eventually happened, and it was that I would give my wife a decent sum of money (plus other specific items of furniture etc) to allow her to walk away from the marriage and start a new life, while I would get the house (and other items) which would be held on my behalf by the ‘law' firm until it was sold. I transferred the agreed sum within two weeks of the signing, into the bank account of the firm; Mistake #2-with hindsight I should have transferred it directly to my wife, but thought I should have a safeguard against her denying it had been received.

Six months later my wife finally got the money, and a few warning bells were starting to ring about Mr X and his company. The transfer of the house was actually made to a Mr Y within days of the agreement, and I was told he was the ‘boss' of Mr X. Very soon after Mr X tells me that Mr Y wanted to buy the house for the price I was looking for, and I think there is finally some light at the end of the tunnel. However this was just a tactic he used to buy more time, and it really hit home that something was horribly wrong when I get a phone call from my wife to ask why I had changed all the locks on the house when I knew she had some more things to collect (neither of us were living there at this point). From this moment on Mr X became increasingly more difficult to contact, and more evasive every time. I finally managed to track him down and have a meeting with him to ask what is going on, and he spins a yarn about Mr Y being some sort of mafia figure with huge gambling debts, and that Mr X is frightened for his life, and that I need to be careful too.

This was yet another smokescreen, but this time I didn't really believe it, and I gave Mr X a time limit to sort things out, under threat of legal action against him. This was not an empty threat, although I still had the problem of finding a lawyer I could trust; it was at this point I was advised to contact the Law Society, which I duly did, only to discover that Mr X and his company were not registered, and consequently the Society could take no action against him. However they did put me in contact with Khun Wichai, and although at time of writing the case is not yet resolved, he has proved his worth time and again.

As it stands now, the truth of what happened is this; Mr X is not a ‘real' lawyer, although it is possible that he had some working for him. Mr Y has also been duped by him to the tune of at least 15 million baht, in supposed land and property deals. My house was ‘given' to Mr Y as some sort of repayment, and Mr Y never knew about my situation until sometime later; Mr Y sold the house at a knockdown price (at this point he was already short of money) fairly soon after the agreement had been signed with my wife, although the new owners didn't take full possession (and changed the locks) until some months later. The money eventually paid to my wife came from Mr Y – the money I had paid had long gone, in suspected gambling by Mr X. Khun Wichai has managed to get both my wife and Mr Y to agree to testify against Mr X, and a preliminary hearing is set for January 2005, the suit having been filed in early October 2004. Despite the new owners of the house not really being involved in all this, it is likely that they will also be sued for the remaining contents of the house that my wife and I were unable to retrieve-unfortunately this is the only way for us to get recompense.

”I should have known it from the very start,

That he's a shyster without a heart,

So my friends here's what I'm telling you,

Don't let him give you the Runaround - Sue!”

Useful contacts:

The Law Society of Thailand ,

7/89 Building 10,

Ratdamnonekrang Rd. ,

Bawornnivet Sub-District ,

Phranakorn District,

Bangkok

Tel : 02-629-1430 # 555, 116, 117

Email: info@lawsociety.or.th

Thank you San Paulo Hospital

Earlier in October, I was delivered to the San Paulo Hospital after a tragic accident in which I was injured seriously. 

The hospital´s ambulance arrived at the place of accident not later than 7 minutes after they were called.

I was carefully transported to the emergency room where a staff of nurses on duty prepared me for examination by the general surgeon on duty.

The findings and nature of my injuries were discussed with me and the surgeon proceeded to attend to me as discussed with me.

A lot of consideration was taken with my condition. An small operation was performed that same night and I woke up on my way to a  single room where nurses made sure I was comfortable.

My condition was monitored several times that night until an orthopedic surgeon arrived the next day to perform the main operation which took about 3 hours.

I was informed in detail about the operation and the English speaking surgeon explained the consequences of same.

I stayed about 14 days at the San Paulo before I was released to my home bedroom. My wife was allowed to stay with me in the same room all this time.

During my stay, the San Paulo staff checked my health state several times a day and gave me adequate medications for a painless night and speedy recovery.

The service, professional surveillance and medical care was impeccable. The real virtues of Thailand were all concentrated in the smiles and care of all staff.

The food was a bit plain but I was not staying at a 5 star resort. Other dishes would have been served if I had ordered them.

I would like to thank all staff of San Paulo for their dedication in taking care of me and the surgeons for performing a leg saving operation.

From the first moment I arrived until my release, there was never a moment of doubt in my mind that I was in the right hands !

You all have been great and given me a lot of confidence should I need you again.

Gerard Mosselman

Lee Hsien Loong at the Dusit

Singaporean Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong was welcomed to Dusit Resort, Hua-Hin by John Gill, the hotel's Resident Manager, and his team. Lee Hsien Loong was on his way to audience to His Majesty the King at Wangklaikangwol Palace .

UNESCAP

UNESCAP Successfully convened The Advisory Committee of Permanent Representatives (ACPR) Retreat at Dusit Resort, Hua-Hin, in November, 2004. Attended by 53 representatives from 23 countries, including 10 ambassadors, participants discussed the strengthening of ties, conference structure and priorities work programmes.

LUKE WHO'S TALKING!

Name: Luke Young

Birthday: November 5th

Birth Place: Petchaburi

Weight: 10.21 lbs (4.68Kg)

Mother: Tittima Masbun

Father: Knackered!

Warmest congratulations to Martin, our very own webmaster, and Taa on the birth of their first son. No Digital Doctor required here!

The Coronation of a Cambodian King

By Antonio Graceffo

A relentless Cambodian sun played upon the highly-polished bayonets, affixed to the rifles of the military honor guard, standing at rigid attention.

Anxiously, they awaited the arrival of Prince Norodom Sihamoni, who would soon be crowned the new king of Cambodia . The droning chant of Buddhist monks could be heard across the palace grounds, as history waited to be made. This would be the first coronation of a new Cambodian king, in more than 60 years, when Prince Norodom Sihamoni's father, King Norodom Sihanouk ascended to the throne.

Fleets of limousines arrived, bearing the many princes and princesses, representing the two sides of Cambodia 's royal family. The regal guests were followed by the high ranking government ministers, and foreign diplomats.

The coronation of a king is always a special event, one of pageantry and national pride. It was unfortunate, however, that the coronation of King Sihamoni was surrounded by speculation and debate, regarding his father's abdication. King Norodom Sihanouk, was the first Cambodian king, in recent memory, to quit his post, while still alive. As recently as two days before the coronation, the constitutionality of the King's abdication was still a subject of debate. A throne council was called, also a first in recent Cambodian history. The council chose Prince Norodom Sihamoni, a 51 year old ballet dancer, who had spent much of his life in Paris , to be the new King. His brother, Prince Norodom Ranarith, would have been the natural successor to their father. But Prince Ranarith, who is head of the FUNCINPEC, royalist political party, had often stated, that he had no desire to assume the position of king.

The appointment of Prince Sihamoni, and the speed with which the throne council operated surprised many Khmers. But most seemed pleased with the decision, echoing sentiments like those of Sok Sop, a long time resident of Phnom Penh . “The old King was very wise.” He said. “He was able to find a solution to the French colonial situation. But the new King is young. And I believe he will bring a new perspective to the Kingdom. I hope that he can find a way to improve the lives of all the people.”

The fact that the new king is unmarried and has no children appears to be a non-issue with the Khmer press, as the crown is not a hereditary monarchy.

Most Khmers said that they loved the King, and seemed to have high hopes for the future. Therefore, it was a shame that the only people permitted to attend the festivities at the palace were a handful of dignitaries and foreign journalists. Citizens were forced to watch the closed affair on television. Even the attendance of opposition leader, Sam Rainsy, was up in the air. Many politicians blamed Sam Rainsy for King Norodom Sihanouk delaying his return to Cambodia , after his latest trip to Beijing . Some went so far as to blame him for the King's abdication. The King had often threatened to resign his post if the CPP, Cambodia 's ruling political party, and the opposition could not come to an amicable compromise. Most recently, Sam Rainsy had sent a letter to the King, explaining that an anti-royalist protest awaited him in Phnom Penh , if he returned from China , as scheduled. The opposition leader claimed that the protests were arranged by the CPP, but were to be blamed on Sam Rainsy. In the end, it is believed that intervention by King Norodom Sihanouk himself secured an invitation for Sam Rainsy. Although the press competed fiercely for photos of the new king, Sam Rainsy was the only coronation guest who was asked to hold an impromptu press conference. It was apparent that journalists wished to ask Sam Rainsy a slue of poignant questions, about his relationship with Prime Minister Hun Sen, as well as rumours that he would be brought in for questioning, regarding his letter to King Norodom Sihanouk. But out of respect for the royal celebration, many questions remained either unasked or unanswered. In an impressive display of linguistics, fielding questions in English, French, and Khmer, Sam Rainsy diplomatically wished the new king well.

“I support the new King.” Said Sam Rainsy. “And I trust that he will use his judgment, and make good decisions. I cannot speak for him.”

The deep base of a tremendous Buddhist drum could be heard, leading a procession of infantry, in traditional Angkor dress. One by one, soldiers, armed with spears and swords, took up their posts, along the path to the palace door. A contingent of bearers marched down the center, carrying ancient artifacts, symbols of the Buddhist faith, and of the divine power of the king. The artifacts were put on display inside of the throne room. As the original Cambodian crown disappeared during the Khmer Rouge regime, a copy was made for this occasion. But the crown was for display only. The king would not be wearing it.

Once the final preparations were completed, a gold coloured litter arrived, borne by strong soldiers in ceremonial Khmer costume. The passenger, mounted on a beautiful and ornate seat, high above the heads of onlookers was His Majesty Prince Norodom Sihamoni. The litter was lowered to the ground, and the prince was escorted into the great hall. The doors were closed, but the chants of Buddhist prayers could be heard through the walls of the regal building.

Hours had passed. But when the doors reopened, and King Norodom Sihamoni immerged, Cambodia had a new King. And hopes were high that a new age of Cambodian prosperity had begun.

Asian news and current affairs

Asia 's lessons from unfriendly US skies

By David Fullbrook

BANGKOK - Asia 's airline industry is weathering high fuel costs for now. But the dire state of United States legacy airlines - suffering from towering debts, crippling costs and bitter competition from low-cost carriers - holds lessons for Asia . Squadrons of low-cost airlines taking flight around the continent and piecemeal deregulation are already provoking fare-cutting dogfights, hurting revenues and leaving some governments trying to square the impossible circle: deregulation, cheap fares and state airline ownership.

Operating under Chapter 11 of bankruptcy protection, which gives management, unions and creditors breathing space in the US, is United Airlines, the nation's No 1 domestic carrier; No 6 US Airways, for the second time under Chapter 11; and ATA, the first low-cost carrier to seek respite from creditors. Delta narrowly avoided Chapter 11 in late October. Given Delta's US$21 billion debt and a market capitalization around US$750 million, some market observers say bankruptcy is inevitable. Questions hover around American Airlines too.

While failure has long shadowed legacy carriers, hobbled by outdated work practices and management miscalculations, it also stalks low-cost carriers. Independence Air, which was reinvented in a new mold after severing ties with United in June, is suffering poor ticket sales and high costs. UBS' US airlines analyst Robert Ashcroft reckons it is odds-on for Chapter 11 in January.

Industry darlings are not immune either. "Even Southwest has been facing some adverse cost pressures that have been disguised by their move toward longer haul operations," said Dr Peter Morrell, air transport research director at Britain 's Cranfield University . Politicians, suffering the poison cocktail of elections and job losses, could freeze any imminent creative destruction. "I don't think either United or US Airways will go under until after the elections, and United might also be saved in some form after the election through congressional intervention," said Morrell.

Collapse of just one major carrier will winnow excess capacity, ease competition and bring opportunity. With the economy buoyant, travel is strong, unlike other industry downturns sparked by recession. Consequently, neither staff nor aircraft will be idle for long. "If US Airways and United fail, there will certainly be gaps in service until the low-cost carriers take over all routes. Some routes simply won't come back," said Richard Aboulafia, Teal Group's Washington DC-based senior airlines analyst.

Were it not for the events of September 11, 2001, and the subsequent $15 billion government bailout, 2004 would have played out the same way as 2002, so dire were the industry's straits following the dotcom recession that saw corporations eliminate business-class travel, in many cases never to return. "Basic problem is high costs, period. The days of $2,000 economy class fares are over," said Aboulafia.

Such cyclical troubles coupled with competition from a new breed of lean airline unencumbered by outdated ideas, practices and structures, only served to accentuate the cracks in the legacy carriers' broken model that grew out of the old cruise lines airlines replaced during the 1960s. They are only half the problem, however. Politicians' and investors' refusal to let the market work its way, no matter how painful, causes much waste and woe. "Government aid and generous bankruptcy laws effectively keep zombie airlines in business. Unpredictable investor psychology helps too," said Aboulafia.

There are lessons here for Asia , which could face problems too if governments do not withdraw from airline ownership, leaving the market to adjudicate which carriers survive. "If and when the time comes, they will need to allow struggling carriers to fail. Due to economic nationalism and other factors, this is likely to be even harder in Asia than in the US and Europe ," said Aboulafia. With low-cost carriers proliferating across Asia , that day may come sooner rather than later. "It took 28 years to mature as a segment in the US , five to seven years in Europe, and perhaps more quickly in Asia," said Timothy Ross, UBS Asian airlines analyst in Hong Kong .

However, Asian no-frills flyers will likely face greater scrutiny than peers elsewhere did in the early days when they tapped stock markets to finance expansion, in part due to the US mess cooling investors' ardor. AirAsia's Kuala Lumpur listing in late October rose less then expected, partly reflecting the US reality and also intense competition it faces in Indonesia and Thailand .

To be sure, Asian governments meddling in aviation is waning, albeit slowly. Indonesia , surprisingly, is a world leader in deregulation. Tossing out the rulebook in 1999 sparked a boom spawning two dozen airlines, fierce competition and sacks of cheap tickets. An example others, especially China and India , could learn much from. Ultimately, groups of Asian nations need to consider creating a common airspace as Europe has, laying the foundation for booming air travel there. "There's no date on the horizon when any airline in Asia will be able to fly between any two points of choosing," said Ross.

Even when the crunch comes, Asian carriers - left lean by the late 1990s depression, then severe acuge respiratory syndrome (SARS) and bird flu, and with healthy cash balances thanks to Asia's new boom and fat cargo revenues - are more likely to survive than US counterparts. "In Asia , airlines are far better capitalized, there's far less over-capacity, and labor is far more constrained," said Ross.

Though Asia 's carriers are riding high now, writing off US carriers, responsible for much industry innovation is dangerous. Once the current cull is over, remaining carriers will be stronger, profitable, and possibly seeking to invest and expand overseas.

(Copyright 2004 Asia Times Online Ltd. All rights reserved. Please contact content@atimes.com for information on our sales and syndication policies.)

Banzai! Debunking the kamikaze myth

By Bennett Richardson and Fumiko Hattori

MABALACAT, Philippines - Like many violent acts during wartime, the Japanese kamikaze attacks of World War II have been vilified or conveniently dismissed as a freakish aberration that cannot be understood in rational terms. The self-sacrifice of the young Japanese pilots has been written into popular history as derived from an extreme interpretation of the samurai code and the wartime belief that the Japanese emperor was a living god.

"Banzai!" or "Long Live the Emperor", was their battle cry, or so popular mythology has it.

But the way the pilots who survived the war tell it, their prime motivation was simply desperation to protect the people they loved from coming to harm in a war that was rapidly - and very clearly - deteriorating into defeat. If they could keep the Allies from their shores and loved ones, they would have achieved their purpose.

In interviews conducted in Japan , some of the would-be kamikazes expressed relief, sadness even today that their comrades had died, and even some survivor guilt.

A handful of veteran Japanese pilots and their families gathered here on October 25 to pay tribute to that sentiment, at the spot where the first kamikaze mission took off exactly 60 years ago from a nondescript airfield about 80 kilometers north of Manila.

Local historian and artist Daniel Dizon witnessed the departure of the original kamikaze pilots on their missions when he was a boy of 14. He said most of the pilots "acted like they were going on a picnic". Dizon has been instrumental in creating kamikaze memorials in the area, and last month he helped to unveil a statue of a kamikaze pilot, a memorial largely funded by Filipino admirers in of what they consider the pilots' extraordinary courage.

"How can you forget something like that? They were brave - it's difficult to describe," Dizon told Asia Times Online.

One of the pilots at the memorial, Tsukasa Abe, now 77, said, "I am extremely grateful that the local people have erected this statue for us ... I am grateful that relations haven't been ruined despite what the Japanese did" in the Philippines .

After successive defeats across the Pacific, Japanese commanders had recognized by October 1944 that it was only a matter of time before the United States would invade the main islands of Japan itself. As the number of operational planes diminished and the Allies increasingly focused on the Pacific theater, senior Japanese navy air commanders decided there was no alternative but to create a special-forces unit to crash dive planes, armed with 250-kilogram bombs, into the flight decks of enemy carriers. These aircraft and the men who flew them came to be known as the kamikaze, named after a divine wind that saved Japan from a Mongol invasion in 1274. This legendary wind, probably a typhoon, destroyed Kublai Khan's fleet as it lay at anchor off the southern Japanese island of Kyushu .

The kamikaze name apparently was given to the first group asked to volunteer in the Philippines by senior commanders who ordered the tactic. The moniker was supposed to be something of an honorific for the original unit only, but quickly it came to be applied to other units using the same suicide tactic.

Kamikaze known as 'special forces'

The kamikaze were widely known as "special forces" - the pilots did not call themselves kamikaze - but the word became popularized and has stuck in the Western imagination; it has come to mean anyone who acts recklessly or suicidally. That was far from the case with the pilots, interviews with a number of them in Japan showed. They survived because their missions were aborted, they couldn't find a suitable target, they themselves were shot down and forced to ditch into the water, or they had to turn back because of bad weather or mechanical failure.

"Not one person went because they thought they wanted to die," Toyotaro Nakajima, a former special-forces pilot, said in an interview. He later ended up living and working in the US for many years. "It was an order - help your country, your country being the family that you loved, your brothers and sisters, friends, your home town - to protect these things from the enemy," he told Asia Times Online.

After the kamikaze sinking of the aircraft carrier Saint Lo on October 25, 1944, in Leyte Gulf off the coast of the Philippines proved that the tactic could inflict severe damage, the Japanese navy expanded the special forces during the Battle of Okinawa. According to the US Strategic Bombing Report on the Pacific War, the Japanese flew 2,550 kamikaze missions from October 1944 to the end of the Okinawa campaign in June 1945, the vast majority of the kamikaze missions, though final and definitive figures were not collected by the US after the Okinawa campaign.

They managed a hit rate of about one in five planes; that is, one in five planes managed to hit an enemy ship, sinking some, damaging others. Others had mechanical problems during flight, ran into enemy air cover en route to the front, or were hit by anti-aircraft fire from the ships they were trying to hit.

Other former kamikaze pilots agreed that most special-forces pilots were thinking primarily about their families when they left on their one-way missions.

No one shouted Banzai for the Emperor!

Shigemitsu Saito, now 78, a fighter pilot in campaigns including those in New Guinea and Guadalcanal , said the schoolboy comic-book image of the Emperor-worshipping kamikaze pilot bears little relation to reality. "The Emperor never really came into it - that's just something the newspapers made up. I doubt anyone actually went to his death shouting 'Banzai for the Emperor!'" he laughed.

Though the initial units were directly asked to volunteer for such missions by their superiors, later pilots were asked to fill in a form and state whether they would be willing to go on such missions - most pilots said they would. Then those who had expressed willingness later received a "special-forces order" from central command, and then they had to go. These orders were often posted on notice boards at air bases for all to see. Because pilots knew that their chances of surviving the war were slim to begin with, the prevailing sentiment at the time was that they should seize any chance that their deaths would not be wasted - by keeping the enemy away from Japanese shores.

Hiromi Kawasaki, now 77, was a navy pilot trainee when he saw a recruitment poster for a top-secret project pinned to the notice board at his base. The stand-out attraction for the 18-year-old was that volunteers would have the chance to go to the front after only two or three months of training. Given that it could have taken up to a year to see combat if he had stayed in the regular forces, Kawasaki took little heed of the warning on the poster that the mission had "no guarantee of survival".

He was assigned to the manned-torpedo unit, a variation on the original crash-dive aerial tactic. Kawasaki was trained to pilot a single-man torpedo with a 1.55-ton explosive warhead into enemy ships, using little more than a stopwatch and a periscope for navigation.

He said he had few qualms about volunteering, as the probability of death for an ordinary Japanese navy pilot was already extremely high - Japanese soldiers used to joke that joining the military not only got you a discount on your movie tickets but also on your life span, he laughed. "From the outset, I never really expected to return from the front," he told Asia Times Online.

But since Kawasaki was posted to coastal Shikoku in southern Japan to await the US invasion that never came, he lived to tell the tale.

Kawasaki said that during the war, the manned-torpedo pilots all wanted to take part in an attack and eagerly waited their turn on the attack roster. Missions were assigned according to the order in which pilots had graduated from training, with the first graduates assigned to the first missions. And so if someone botched his mission and had to be reassigned to the next attack, it was always very disappointing for the younger pilots waiting further down the line, he recalled.

They didn't care for money, fame or life

"We thought we didn't need money, or fame, or our lives - that was the mindset," Kawasaki said.

But once the war ended, he realized he would have to find a way to live. Eventually, he ended up working in a flour mill and getting married.

"I've been able to lead an interesting life," he said, adding that if he had the chance to go back in time, he probably wouldn't place himself in harm's way so enthusiastically. "It seems strange that I was a soldier at 18 and now I'm almost 80."

Some of the survivors escaped death when the war fortuitously ended before the day of their scheduled sortie. Former special-forces pilot Tsukasa Abe, interviewed in the Philippines , dodged what would have been his fate by just a few hours - his scheduled mission was for the afternoon of August 15, 1945, but at noon the Emperor of Japan broadcast to the nation that Japan must "endure the unendurable" and accept defeat.

Of those pilots who remain, almost all watched close friends fly off to sacrifice their lives in kamikaze attacks.

"It was very painful to see them off," remembered one special-forces pilot. "They were going first and you were staying behind, so you felt indebted in a way." And yet despite seeing his friends perish in this manner, this pilot, who declined to give his name, was remarkably candid about how it felt to realize that it would not be his fate to die in battle.

"It would be a lie to say that I didn't have at least some feeling that I was glad I wasn't chosen," he said.

Although the use of the kamikaze tactic didn't change the final outcome of the war, there is some evidence that those pilots who flew to their deaths hundreds of kilometers away were indirectly able to protect their families from harm. Because of the threat posed by the kamikaze attacks to Allied forces, more than 2,000 B-29 sorties that were to have attacked civilian and industrial targets in mainland Japanese cities ended up being diverted to striking kamikaze airfields in Kyushu .

Reliable estimates indicate that between 34 and 45 ships were sunk by kamikaze attacks and hundreds more were damaged. Kamikaze pilots were also known to ram enemy planes in midair. In addition, many sailors who witnessed kamikaze attacks suffered psychological trauma due to the shocking nature of the suicide tactic.

US sailors terrified of kamikaze

Bill Obitz, standing just a short distance from where a kamikaze plane hit the USSR Missouri on April 11, 1945, said sailors were scared of kamikaze because "you knew when they came in that that you were either going to shoot them down or they were going to dive into the ship".

While the bomb failed to explode in the attack he witnessed that day, Obitz said the dedication evident as the pilot lined up his single-man plane on the final run toward 45,000 tons of battleship firepower was fearsome. It was awe-inspiring that "you knew that he wouldn't turn back", Obitz said.

Some have suggested that the Japanese kamikaze were an inspiration for the attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon three years ago, on September 11, 2001, but the surviving pilots unanimously disavowed any comparison to modern terrorists - their aim in World War II was only to hit military targets. Whether the September 11 terrorists ever thought about the Japanese kamikaze attacks will never be known.

"It's a major mistake to say that the September 11 attacks were kamikaze attacks - the special forces were only ever used in a theater of war," said Kawasaki, the former manned torpedo pilot who never got his chance to die. "We never carried out any attacks [against civilians] like the ones on September 11," he said.

The former pilots also said it was a soldier's duty to obey orders and their underlying motivation was different from that of today's suicide bombers. The kamikaze tactic was a defense to keep the Allies at bay, more than an attack.

"Nobody was chasing after death or trying to commit suicide - we did it because we had a duty to protect our country. To me, there's a major difference," said former kamikaze pilot Nakajima.

Bennett Richardson is a Tokyo-based freelance journalist with a special interest in Japanese defense policy, politics and modern history. Fumiko Hattori is an independent researcher and translator specializing in the World War II Pacific theater.

(Copyright 2004 Asia Times Online Co, Ltd. All rights reserved. Please contact content@atimes.com for information on our sales and syndication policies.)

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