19/05/2017
360 Video of the Padang.
Over here in September 1945, Singaporeans came out of their homes to celebrate the surrender of the Japanese.
Masamichi Shida was, at the time, a young, Japanese kamikaze pilot. He enlisted in 1942 after the Japanese had overrun Philippines, Malaya and Singapore. However, he and his fellow enlistees were unaware of the turning tides, since the government had kept any anti-Japanese news censored.
After graduating as a commissioned pilot, Shida was afraid of what he had signed up to do. However, he had to defend his honour and follow orders. However, to his great fortune, the atomic bomb had been dropped then and Japan surrendered soon after. His life was spared.
Makes you wonder how many people were there like him, Japanese or not, whose lives were indirectly spared by the surrender.
