why did japan use kamikazes in WWII?

Answer 1

All the other answers are correct to a point.

Kamikazes were a desperate act of a people, but a desperate people not a defeated people. The Japanese Military hoped that if they made the war for the Home Islands, to find the home Islands of Japan on a Map of the Pacific draw an arc that includes Iwo Jima and everything west of Iwo and in the arc is a home Island, to expensive for the Allies they would end the war without defeating Japan.

The idea of self sacrifice was, and in someways is today , ingrained into the Japanese spirit it's called the Yamato Spirit in Japan and it sets that all people must be willing to give their all for the state. Your life is the best that you can give. So the Japanese flew plans into ships and speed boats full of explosives and manned torpedo's into the sides of ships. Had the Allies invaded Japan we would learn in school how women and children had sacrificed their life's to kill Americans and Japan as we know it today would not exist today. The most chilling pictures if the Pacific War are the films of the Japanese civilians committing Suicide of the cliffs in Saipan. That is what you would have seen in Japan.

Kamikazes were a tactic that almost worked.

Answer 2

First, those attack were sometimes not predetermined, but they could also be a part of critical operations : in those situations, they were filling the planes with explosives. The Japaneses began to use that tactic in 1944, when the were feeling that their chances of winning the war were almost nonexistent . They were essentially targeting American ships, trying to sink them.

Also, there are saying which say that the Japaneses were doing that because they began to run out of resources in oil and fuel during the war due to a vast embargo by the countries fighting against them. That way, sometimes the plane's pilot was told to not get back to the airport because there were no fuel to fill the plane anyway. Obviously, the plane runs ultimately out of fuel, and instead of crashing it in the ocean, for example, the pilots were told to crash it on the enemy so they can cause the most damage possible.

Finally, that tactic was not utilized that much because it was very expensive : they would not only loose the plane doing that, but usually the pilot also, and it is quite long and expensive to train them.

Answer 3

It was a desperation tactic. The war in the Pacific was going badly for Japan. They figured one plane and one pilot was a reasonable exchange for severely damaging an Allied ship, possibly even sinking it. By loading the plane with full gas tanks, explosives, and/or one or more bombs, they were looking to cause as much damage as possible.

Answer 4

In Japanese language it means " divine wind ". , typhoon that destroyed Kumbli Khans fleet, foiling his invasion of Japan in 1281. In WW II, the word used for Japanese suicide pilots, who crashed their planes in to enemy ship.

Then, why did they do that ? to win the War.

Answer 5

Why? That involves understanding the previous cultural history of the Japanese. It was considered an honor to die for their country and emperor... so if that's what it took, then you were expected to die