When I was growing up I had facial zits like everyone else. Then, when I entered my 20’s they went away. They faded into nothing. It became rarer and rarer, until it hardly ever occurred.
Then, here I am… in my 50’s.
I am working as a teacher in China. I am performing one on one classes and during one class the student couldn’t stop staring at me. I couldn’t figure out why.
But luckily, one of the assistants pulled me aside and told me to go to the bathroom and wash my face. I went “huh?” But, she told me again. “Go to the bathroom. Wash my face.”
And so I did.
And I am glad that she told me to do this.
For on my face was the biggest and most wicked pimple that I have ever seen right at the tip of my nose. Gosh! It was enormous!
The size of a Planter’s jar of peanuts!
…
Erp!
Oh… ok. Well, not that huge. But still, pretty darn enormous.
…
It was the size of a pencil eraser!
Wholly fuck!
It was a monster.
So…
…yeah, I popped that beast. And went back to work.
I thanked the girl for helping me out like that. If she didn’t say anything, I would be completely oblivious. Gosh! It’s good to have friends that tell you the way things really are.
Gosh! It’s good to have friends that tell you the way things really are.
Today…
What is the biggest surprise about getting rich?
I have almost four million dollars in the bank, made mostly on the side while working a tech job. Not filthy rich but I have more in savings than anyone else I know in my peer group. The first thoughts I have off the top of my head:
– Don’t tell anyone. At my last job over time, I foolishly somehow mentioned to my co-workers that I’ve accumulated quite a bit of cash trading and it changed the impression people had of me, and not for the better. These are people that I had worked with for years and considered good friends. Nobody ever asked for anything but there was an undertone of jealousy and little snarky comments sometimes when I absolutely never flaunted anything. It never got better even though I never mentioned it again. When I changed jobs to a new company, I vowed never to mention it anyone again under any circumstances. Can’t advise this strongly enough. Don’t tell anyone. Friends, etc. Tell your spouse it’s retirement savings, not mad money.
– Material things don’t do anything for you. I know, it’s such a cliche, but take it from me, someone who thought I was different. I bought amazing cars, had all kinds of cool toys, lived large for sure. Nothing really lasted at the end of it all I later thought was that it was a lot of money I threw away on nothing. Depreciating assets. All it does is alienate you and the people you impress with that kind of spend isn’t really the kind of lasting people you want in your life.. Now I live a comfortable life consistent with my tech job income.
– While I might have a bunch in savings, I think real *wealth* is getting into a situation where you have passive income every month, meaning you do nothing and get a check cut to you every month. If I don’t trade or don’t work my tech job, I won’t have any new income. I think real wealth and security come from building up an empire (rental property, self-running business, etc) where you can have a check coming in, even not a huge one, that requires to do nothing.
– My stress level is low. My real job can blow up and I can coast as long as I need until I find my next gig. Not that I ever want to do that but it’s nice knowing if you fall, you have a net.
Grilled Chorizo Sandwiches with Chimichurri (Choripán)
A popular street food in Argentina as well as Chile, Uruguay, and parts of Brazil, these grilled sausage sandwiches are easy to prepare on a grill—or an indoor grill pan with good ventilation. Though they’re typically served on their own, you can pair choripán with a simple iceberg salad if desired, a side dish seen often in the parrilla (wood-fired grill) restaurants of Argentina. The chimichurri recipe makes about 1 cup but can be easily doubled if you are feeding a crowd.
Featured in: This Argentinian Choripán Recipe Wins Summer
Equipment
- Grill Pan or a Grill
- Medium Bowl
Ingredients
For the choripán:
- 4 fresh chorizo sausages, Argentinian-style if possible
- Four 6-inch hero rolls, split lengthwise, connected on one side like a hinge
For the chimichurri:
- ¼ cup finely chopped fresh Italian parsley leaves
- ¼ cup minced white onion
- 1 small garlic clove, grated on a microplane
- ¼ cup plus 3 Tbsp. extra-virgin olive oil
- 3 Tbsp. red wine vinegar
- ½ tsp. kosher salt
- ¼ tsp. freshly ground black pepper
Instructions
Step 1
Step 2
Step 3
Step 4
What work secret did you accidentally find out that changed everything?
I was hired by a big furniture retailer who was impressed by my pre-hire test scores. “We’ve never had anybody test so high before,” they said. So they hired me on the spot uncertain what they would even have me do.
Soon they assigned me to straighten out their inventory system. The senior vice president was worried because he’d spent lots of money on the software and it wasn’t working well. Then I discovered that the unreliable inventory counts and locations were just part of a bigger problem.
20% of all the furniture they sent out for delivery always came back undelivered after spending the day in the trucks. Unboxed and jostled, some were damaged. All were then wrapped up in “mystery” foam so we couldn’t easily identify them visually. Then they were put in a random location with no indication in the records of which location. Operations wasn’t following the approved procedure in receiving back returned merchandise. This created manifold problems. We soon had no idea what was in stock or where it was (it could even be stolen). And customers were calling demanding to know where the stuff they bought was. Just imagine all the wasted labor!
The reason the 20% came back was two-fold. One was that customer service wasn’t calling customers to remind them they had furniture coming. The other was that at the time of sale, the salespeople had to put in a delivery date even if the customer needed to call back with that info. So they forced a random delivery date. There was no TBD option!
So, I reported all this along with recommendations of how to tweak processes to fix it all. The manager of the largest distribution center refused to cooperate. So I greatly increased the frequency of inventory taking. He threatened me and even suggested he would pay me if I just stayed home. I refused. When he said he’d fire me, I said, “If you feel froggy, jump!” — after all, I never had a problem finding work; I really am smart.
He fired me. I contacted the board of directors and came away with severance whereas the manager and the VP were soon fired. I think the VP was reluctant to deal with the manager because the manager was a golden boy of the founder.
I am retired now, but the moral to the story was, don’t hire me if you are allergic to the truth. I will figure out what’s going on. If it’s bad enough I will go to the board, the CEO, the authorities, even your lender. I don’t put up with malfeasance. Never. I don’t need any job that bad. By design.
CASABLANCA (1942) FIRST TIME WATCHING | REACTION
Slow Cooker Bacon Cheeseburger Soup
Ingredients
- 1 (32 ounce) bag frozen shredded hash browns
- 1 pound ground beef, cooked
- 1/2 pound bacon, cooked and chopped
- 2 pounds Velveeta cheese
- 32 ounces beef broth
- 1 teaspoon pepper
- 2 tablespoons dried minced onion flakes
- 1 teaspoon garlic powder
- 2 teaspoons Worcestershire sauce
Instructions
- Combine all ingredients in a 6 quart slow cooker.
- Cook on LOW for 8 to 10 hours.
- Garnish with bacon and shredded Cheddar cheese, if desired.
Critical Race Theory
State Department To Delay Withdrawal Of U.S. Troops From Niger
This Washington Post headline as well as the first paragraphs of the story are not really backed by facts.
U.S. agrees to withdraw American troops from Niger
NAPLES, Italy — The United States informed the government of Niger on Friday that it agreed to its request to withdraw U.S. troops from the West African country, said three U.S. officials, a move the Biden administration had resisted and one that will transform Washington’s counterterrorism posture in the region.The agreement will spell the end of a U.S. troop presence that totaled more than 1,000 and throw into question the status of a $110 million U.S. air base that is only six years old. It is the culmination of a military coup last year that ousted the country’s democratically elected government and installed a junta that declared America’s military presence there “illegal.”
“The prime minister has asked us to withdraw U.S. troops, and we have agreed to do that,” a senior State Department official told The Washington Post in an interview. This official, like others, spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss the sensitive situation.
The decision was sealed in a meeting earlier Friday between Deputy Secretary of State Kurt Campbell and Niger’s prime minister, Ali Lamine Zeine.
The U.S. drone base in Niger is used by the Pentagon and CIA to keep control of ISIS in the region.
So are U.S. troops really leaving Niger?
Of course not – at least not yet.
The next paragraph reveals what was really agreed upon. It makes it obvious that the U.S. wants to delay the issue as long as possible:
“We’ve agreed to begin conversations within days about how to develop a plan” to withdraw troops, said the senior State Department official. “They’ve agreed that we do it in an orderly and responsible way. And we will need to probably dispatch folks to Niamey to sit down and hash it out. And that of course will be a Defense Department project.”
– “We have agreed to begin conservations” – (we didn’t really agree to pull out troops, just to talks)
– “about how to develop a plan” – (should we write a plan for something-something in Excel or Word?)
– “in an orderly and responsible way” – (we see absolutely no time pressure or deadline)
– “need to probably dispatch folks to Niamey” – (there will be many delays and the team will change often)
– “that of course will be a Defense Department project” – (We, the State Department, will hardly be involved. When the shit hits the fan the Pentagon will be to blame for it.)
A Pentagon spokesman did not immediately offer comment.The United States had paused its security cooperation with Niger, limiting U.S. activities — including unarmed drone flights. But U.S. service members have remained in the country, unable to fulfill their responsibilities and feeling left in the dark by leadership at the U.S. Embassy as negotiations continued, according to a recent whistleblower complaint.
There have since been more protests in Niger demanding the exit of U.S. troops:
In the town of Agadez, home to a US air base, hundreds of demonstrators gathered to demand the departure of American forces.The protests were organised by a coalition of civil society groups that have supported the current military regime since it came to power last year.
It seems to me that the new regime in Niger can and will have to escalate this.
VANG VIENG IS BEAUTIFUL (and completely WILD) 🇱🇦 LOST in LAOS Ep:3
Laos is awesome!
No wonder the United States want to keep the people stupid and ignorant.
Some more of my AI experiments
The first person to notice
- Not everyone we meet is meant to stay in our lives.
- Every person we cross will teach us something important.
- Sometimes, we have to let go to move forward.
- Pain, struggle and toxic people encourage the most growth.
- Our biggest burdens often lead to our biggest blessings.
- Every success story has the same moral: NEVER GIVE UP.
- Faith may not make things easier, but it makes them possible.
- Baby steps will still get us to our destination.
- All things pass, sometimes we have to give it time.
- Trying to please everyone will result to failure and sadness.
- Drama will drain us more than it will entertain us.
- Happiness is always in our hands.
- Only a positive mind can create a positive life.
- Life is precious, so make the most of it.
- Life isn’t always easy, but having one is always a gift.
What’s the most criminal place/house or lair you have ever been to, and what did you do there?
When my Thai (police officer) husband and I visited family in Dallas, my SIL arranged for us to meet the Chief of Police. As a professional courtesy, the Chief arranged for us to go on a ride-along (a long story for another time) with Officer Kevin Bailey.
One of the final stops was at a known drug house that had already been raided but was still used by the drug addicted.
It was horrid…fetid, with nasty graffiti written in spray paint and feces. Doors were torn off and windows shattered with old glass shards still on the sticky, filth-encrusted floors. Trash and used syringes were everywhere. Ripped, filthy blankets were the only furniture.
The stinking bathroom had a blocked, overflowing toilet, a broken sink on the floor covered in used paper and a bathtub black with feces and mold.
As we were leaving, an old man (was he really just old before his time?) came from the woods nearby and greeted the officer – they knew each other, but both kept their distance, except when the officer quietly slipped him money.
I don’t know what possessed me to walk up to that man and ask him about who he was.
He was homeless except for that horrible house. He couldn’t remember how long he had been that way nor where his family might be. He had nothing. He ate from dumpsters (and happily told me where the best ones were) and apologized for his smell; he had not had a bath in weeks and was praying for rain.
He seemed delighted to talk.
Officer Bailey and my husband were NOT so delighted. Both held their breath (and went on alert) when I shook the man’s hand, thanking him for talking with me.
I was asked why I would do that. To me, that homeless man deserved the same respect I give to anyone I meet.
Note: Officer Bailey and other officers who showed up later made sure we were not in danger, especially re syringes, broken glass. We touched nothing inside the house and yard.
News reports, TV shows, movies cannot truly convey the stink, the filth, the oppressive, hopeless feeling of a drug house.
Shorpy break
VIDEO: French Troops Deploy into Odessa Ukraine; NATO Troops Killed in Dnipropetrovsk Yesterday
Video has emerged from Odessa, Ukraine showing elements of the French Army entering that city. This appears to be direct entry into the Ukraine conflict by a NATO-Member country.
It is likely being carried-out pursuant to a Bi-Lateral agreement between Ukraine and France, but that is not confirmed at this time.
Russia has repeatedly made clear that any troops from foreign countries that enter Ukraine will be legitimate targets for the Russian Army.
On April 13, France sent Foreign Legion troops into Slavyansk, Ukraine. Within 48 Hours, most of them were dead with many other injured from Russian strikes against Slavyansk.
DNIPROPETROVSK yesterday
Yesterday, Russia hit a hotel in the center of Dnipropetrovsk which was apparently full of NATO troops. Images of the building that was struck show a direct hit with huge damage and fire.
Numerous reports from the scene above claim that “numerous NATO troops were carried out of the rubble, seriously injured or dead.”
Ambulances reportedly took those NATO troops to waiting helicopters, which reportedly shuttled the troops to Rzeszow, Poland.
All day today, Med-evac aircraft from NATO countries, including an Airbus A330-MRTT were seen coming into and rapidly taking off from, Rzeszow. One is shown on the radar monitoring image below:
Clearly, these multi-role air refueling tankers are operating in their med-evac role because there are no air-refueling operations taking place anywhere near Rzeszow.
So the French lost Foreign Legion troops in Slavyansk, NATO lost more troops in Dnipropetrovsk yesterday, and now France is sending 1,000 troops and armor into Odessa.
Step-by-step, Western nations are provoking Russia into now direct battle.
Don’t be surprised when the missiles start to fly – and be sure to REMEMBER who caused it: We did.
Yup. This is how it works
Casse-Croûte Tunisien (Tunisian Tuna Sandwich)
You’ll need both hands for this deliciously overstuffed North African lunchtime treat.
You’ll need both hands to eat this overstuffed tuna sandwich, lavished with fiery condiments and stacks of fixings, a North African take on a French pan bagnat. This recipe comes from Tunisian lunch counter Chez René et Gabin in Paris. This recipe first appeared in our November 2012 issue along with Jay Cheshes’s story Couscous Royale.
Ingredients
- 3 tbsp. olive oil
- 2 garlic cloves, finely chopped
- ½ small yellow onion, finely chopped
- ½ small green bell pepper, seeded and finely chopped
- One 15-oz. can whole tomatoes, drained, crushed by hand
- 1 bay leaf
- Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper
- 4 Portuguese or hero rolls (8 in. each)
- 2 medium Yukon gold potatoes, boiled until tender, peeled, and thinly sliced
- 1 medium ripe tomato, thinly sliced
- 1 small English cucumber, thinly sliced
- Two 5-oz. cans tuna in oil, drained and flaked
- ½ cups pitted black olives
- ¼ cups capers, rinsed
- 4 pepperoncini, stemmed and halved lengthwise
- ½ cups harissa, or to taste
Instructions
Step 1
Step 2
What are some possible reasons for Westerners to have negative views towards China/Chinese culture/people, despite not having personal experience or fluency in the language?
Try to imagine this 1.4 billion people in the world or roughly 18 of earthlings are living a world apart from the Americans with totally different way of life, different interest, different policies, different customs and taste, desires yet the US cuts out their only way to share their social fabric Confucianism.
Meanwhile from birth to death for three generations your media, books, movies and politicians sets a negative narratives on China and the Chinese people to demonised them, to cast doubts on them, to hate them from dawn to dusk 365 days a year 24/7 a day!
So that the sweetest granny hated the sound of Chinese name, and your president slurs them with racist names openly in political debates for the world to see without regrets and remorse and totally without shame!
All because the U.S. wants them to be submissive and subservient like everyone else but they refused and they can do everything the U.S. does except better, cheaper and faster! Today the dominate all key industries and material sciences and 40% of all the world’s consumers with middle income lives there and worst they make 80% of world’s need yet US wants to decouple from and with them!
170/195 nations trade with them more than every other nations on earth yet the U.S. pretends they don’t need China! The U.S. policies could not be more destructive to themselves but the delude themselves that they don’t need China! Many of them in QUORA spewing their hatred but pretending that they only hate the CPP!
China is fine with it because it actually suits them and help them fly past the US even faster and it sets back the US faster but to the U.S. it makes shooting themselves on their foot sound too kind but if you fooled yourself for so long you believed fully in the lies yourself now!
But because you your children and grandchildren are now made totally in denial, ignorant and naive about China you don’t know what you don’t know! It like the world have 3 meals a day and the U.S. thought that 2 meals is all they can have and they don’t grumble! In fact from 1945–1971 the U.S. in cohort with the UN and westerners made Taiwan an island with say 2% of Chinese represent whole if China!
One day the Yanks will wake up to a Chinese 6 times their size and a 100 times better than them and realised that these 100 years of lying about China is all about nothing and it sets back the U.S. into Stone age!
I have an advise for all Americans and other brain dead westerners, take a trip to China and holiday for a month! See for yourself about China! You will like the food, the scenery, the atmosphere and yes no one cares about making you into Chinese or anything. That trip is the biggest eye opener in your life and you will see 18% of the world that you never knew existed. You will not see money because no one use notes and coins since 2010 and 50% of their cars don’t use petrol, many public transport are autonomous and environment is clean and crime less and I challenge you to find one home less in your trip. Yes only one, you can’t find even one!
People eat good warm food and drives expensive automobile and wear expensive cloths! Robots greet you every where and even bring food and drinks to your hotel rooms! China U.S. at least 10 years ahead of the U.S. now! Stop hiding under a huge rock. It time you let truth sets you free! Welcome to China Americans. If you are open minded you ought to hate what you read or watch about China in America!
White Chicken Chili
Yield: 8 servings
Ingredients
- 6 skinless chicken thighs (1 1/2 pounds)
- 1 large onion, chopped
- 2 cloves garlic, finely chopped
- 1 (14 1/2 ounce) can chicken broth
- 1 teaspoon ground cumin
- 1 teaspoon dried oregano leaves
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1/4 teaspoon Tabasco sauce
- 2 (16 ounce) cans great northern beans, rinsed and drained
- 1 (15 ounce) can white shoe peg corn or regular whole kernel corn, drained
- 3 tablespoons lime juice
- 2 tablespoons chopped fresh cilantro
Instructions
- Remove excess fat from chicken. Mix onion, garlic, broth, cumin, oregano, salt and Tabasco sauce in a 3 1/2 to 6 quart slow cooker.
- Add chicken.
- Cover and cook on LOW for 4 to 5 hours or until chicken is tender.
- Remove chicken. Use 2 forks to remove bones and shred chicken into pieces.
- Discard bones; return chicken to slow cooker.
- Stir in beans, corn, lime juice and cilantro.
- Cover and cook on LOW for 15 to 20 minutes or until beans and corn are hot.
What are some cool psychological hacks?
1. You hold the door open for other people.
Scientists have found this goes beyond us just trying to be polite. Meaning: we are all trying to spend less energy doing things. This show that we do try to treat others the way we want to be treated.
2. Being forgetful is a sign of high intelligence.
Scientists claim that forgetting is just as important as remembering. “Bad memory” = mechanism for making more space for more relevant information in your brain. And it keeps your brain from wasting space and energy.
3. You thought you felt your phone vibrate in your pocket but there were no notifications.
This condition is called Phantom Vibration Syndrome and 68% of us suffer from it.
4. You forget what you went into a room for as soon as you get there.
Because of something called the “doorway effect.” The act of walking through the doorway makes you forget because you’re changing your environment.
Related reading: Doorway effect
5. You position your feet towards the person you are most interested in.
It’s a survival instinct. Your body is making sure your feet could react immediately if you feel any type of threat.
Random AI pictures generations
What were the worst two minutes of your life?
My 2 year old son was looking at toys with my husband and I was looking at a little outfit, he decided he wanted me instead so he came over, in plain sight, only a few feet. But as he did, he tripped and fell face first onto a jagged, metal edge of a clothes rail. I didn’t realise at first. Then he looked up, mouth open, deep hole in his head. My husband said the colour just drained from my face. The hole started flowing with blood as I struggled to get something to stop the bleeding. The first aider from the shop was useless and stood there with a box of plasters 🙄😩
another customer came over with a flannel off a stand which I used, and his bib from my bag. I kept my cool on the outside for him and for my other son who was hysterically crying. The shop people just stood there writing notes 😡
got to the hospital and he had it all sorted out while I had to hold him down/being able to see down the hole, they glued it etc, I said to them-I’m guessing it wasn’t as deep as I thought if he doesn’t need stitches and they said no-it was deep-the layer just before the skull. But he was ok thankfully!
my mum started court proceedings (I was too traumatised to deal with all that and wouldn’t have started it myself probably, as I didn’t want to relive it) and he won a fair amount of money. But what annoyed me most-is that they never sorted it, they didn’t replace the rail or cover it with a stopper. They just didn’t care at all, they never even bothered to send a rep to the proceedings.
The Last Letters Of Kamikaze Pilots
Imagine being a young pilot in the Imperial Japanese Navy during the final, desperate months of World War II. You’re handed a mission from which there is no return: to pilot your aircraft, laden with explosives, directly into an enemy warship.
This is the grim reality for the kamikaze, those infamous ‘divine wind’ pilots. But before they embarked on their final flights, many of these young men penned last letters to their families, to loved ones, to their children yet to be born, revealing their innermost fears, hopes, and unwavering belief in their cause.
These letters, often imbued with a poignant mix of youthful idealism and tragic resignation, offer a window not only into the personal sacrifices demanded by war but also into the cultural and nationalistic fervor that drove the kamikaze pilots to their fatal task.
On January 6, 1945, Lieutenant Junior Grade Tadasu Fukino piloted a Suisei dive bomber (Allied code name of Judy) that crashed into the heavy cruiser Louisville (CA-28) in Lingayen Gulf off the coast of Luzon Island in the Philippines. The suicide attack killed 36 men and wounded 56 others.
Tadasu Fukino wrote the following last letter to his mother after he had arrived in the Philippines and before his final mission:
December 31, 1944
Mother,
I truly have caused you only trouble for a long time. In addition to being undutiful to you in various ways, now again I will not even take care of you. Please forgive my prior undutifulness.
Last fall you surely were worried when I chose the Navy Air path. Using common sense, there were several other paths with little danger. Regarding the path of service to the country, perhaps those would have been adequate. However, as for this country of Japan, great numbers of us splendidly have obtained shining glory only after we have endured endless sorrows and griefs. Moreover, precisely because of this, hereafter Japan will be a country that flourishes. I have been able to advance and take this glorious path without any regrets precisely because I believed you to be a strong mother who has made this country of Japan prosper splendidly by valiantly enduring these sorrows. Even though I was able to go forward on the path of a warrior who will repay the country in some little way, it is primarily because of you, Mother.
You can say with pride that I went to a glorious death in the honorable Navy Air way and performed some little service.
I will be content with beautiful white clouds in the skies as a grave marker. Now I go to die for the Emperor and for the mountains and rivers of my beloved Japan.
Well, so long.
Tadasu
Ensign Kiyoshi Ogawa died at 22 years of age in a kamikaze attack against the aircraft carrier Bunker Hill (CV-17) on May 11, 1945. The following is an English translation of his last letter:
Father and Mother,
It has been decided that I also will make a sortie as a proud Special Attack Corps member. Looking back, when I think of your raising me in your arms for more than twenty years, I am filled with a sense of gratitude. I truly believe that no one else has lived a happier life than me, and I am resolved to repay the Emperor and my father for your kindness.
Beyond those boundless white clouds, I will make my attack with a calm feeling. Not even thoughts of life and death will come to mind. A person dies once. It will be an honorable day to live for the eternal cause.
Father and Mother, please be glad for me.
Above all, Mother, please take care of your health, and I wish for everyone’s prosperity. As I will be at Yasukuni Shrine, Father and Mother, I always and forever will be living near you and will be praying for your happiness.
I will go smiling, both on the day of my sortie and forever.
On March 23, 1945, Kenji Tomisawa become a member of the 62nd Shinbu Special Attack Squadron when it was formed at Shimoshizu Airfield. On April 6, 1945, he died in a suicide attack when his squadron’s Type 99 Assault Planes (Allied nickname of Sonia) took off from Bansei Air Base in Kagoshima Prefecture. He was 23 years of age at the time of his death.
Tomisawa wrote the following last letter to his family:
I trust that everyone has been doing well recently.
I am dearly grateful that you went to all the trouble to come visit me the other day in such a busy time.
Since my injury is already healed, do not worry.
At last for me also the time of final service has arrived. I very deeply appreciate my special upbringing until now. I am one who lacked courage, but please do speak well of me.
In order to destroy our enemy, I will summon courage with all my might and will go to strike. We are the ones to deliver the country from the current crisis. Taking pride in this, I will surely do it. My comrades have already done it. Even right now my comrades, believing in those who will follow after them, are striking the enemy.
Shall I keep silent? Shall I try to be quiet about this?
Father, Mother, please do congratulate me.
Brother, sister, please take care of Father and Mother.
I surely will be protecting everybody from the immortal faraway skies in Nansei Shoto (Okinawa and other islands in archipelago that stretch south of Kyushu and toward Taiwan). Even though my body dies, I will certainly defend you.
Please give my kindest regards to the neighbors. I hope you will always keep in contact with Mr. Ebihara of Honjo. Since I have been busy, I have not been able to write a letter to him for a long time. Please give my greetings to Mr. Nishigaya also.
With this I give you my final farewell. Thank you for everything. Goodbye, goodbye.
Second Lieutenant Tomisawa
Lieutenant Sanehisa Uemura died in battle in the Philippine Sea area on October 26, 1944
Uemura wrote the following letter to his young daughter:
Motoko,
You often looked and smiled at my face. You also slept in my arms, and we took baths together. When you grow up and want to know about me, ask your mother and Aunt Kayo.
My photo album has been left for you at home. I gave you the name Motoko, hoping you would be a gentle, tender-hearted, and caring person.
I want to make sure you are happy when you grow up and become a splendid bride, and even though I die without you knowing me, you must never feel sad.
When you grow up and want to meet me, please come to Kudan. And if you pray deeply, surely your father’s face will show itself within your heart. I believe you are happy. Since your birth you started to show a close resemblance to me, and other people would often say that when they saw little Motoko they felt like they were meeting me. Your uncle and aunt will take good care of you with you being their only hope, and your mother will only survive by keeping in mind your happiness throughout your entire lifetime. Even though something happens to me, you must certainly not think of yourself as a child without a father. I am always protecting you. Please be a person who takes loving care of others.
When you grow up and begin to think about me, please read this letter.
Father
P.S. In my airplane, I keep as a charm a doll you had as a toy when you were born. So it means Motoko was together with Father. I tell you this because my being here without your knowing makes my heart ache.
Flight Petty Officer 2nd Class Nobutaka Inoue from Osaka died at the age of 18 in a special (suicide) attack near Okinawa. On April 28, 1945, he took off from Kokubu No. 2 Air Base as navigator in a two-man Type 99 Carrier Dive Bomber (Allied code name of Val) as a member of the Navy’s Kamikaze Special Attack Corps.
He wrote the following last letter to his parents on the day before his final mission:
Father and Mother,
Please excuse this hastily written letter. I sincerely thank you for taking care of me until this, my 18th, year.
I also at last have joined the Special Attack Corps, an airman’s highest honor, and it has been decided that I will make a sortie. I am sorry that recently I have not been able to send you news, but this also is unavoidable for military reasons. However, I have not regretted this. My heart is full of gratitude not only to you who have taken care of me until now but also to the senior officers and my friends from whom I as a single person have received so much.
Please enjoy good health until the day when in the end the Greater East Asia War is won. Even though my body disappears, my spirit only will remain. Please let me have the honor of seeing your cheerful faces from the skies of Yasukuni. The end is near. I want to write various things, but I do not know which ones are best to write.
Tomorrow at last I will fly to Okinawa and carry out a taiatari (literally “body crashing”) attack. I will die for an eternal cause believing I follow after my younger brothers and convinced of certain victory. If a white wooden box arrives, please praise me without crying. I earnestly request this of you.
I could not do any acts of filial piety for you, but I ask my older brother to do this. The enclosed photograph was taken just before my takeoff. I am in high spirits. Please rest assured. They are dirty nail clippings, but I enclose them with this letter.
I hope you live long and take good care of yourselves.
Please say hello from me to our neighbors and relatives.
Nobutaka
April 27, 1945