"When you get to the roots of the Japanese soul, I think they are embodied in the kamikaze pilots," he said.
While the Japanese have not fired a shot in wartime since 1945, critics see peril in the new trend.
"It's extremely dangerous to glorify the kamikaze pilots as tragic heroes. The people who glorify them want to connect the prewar period with the present and future Japan," said Atsushi Shirai, a historian who has written about the pilots.
"These views also block critical analysis of the tragedy of the war, what it signified and why it was carried out," he added.
RSS