Captain Rikihei Inoguchi graduated from the Japanese Naval Academy in 1921. In February 1944, he commanded the 153rd Air Group and subsequently led it through the campaigns in Timor, New Guinea, and Peleliu. The following month he joined the First Air Flight as the senior staff officer to Admiral Ohnishi, the originator of the kamikaze concept, and participated in the initial suicide operations conducted from the Philippines and subsequently from Formosa. He died on July 13, 1983.

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A classic and poignant treatment of Japan's struggle between recognition of the kamikaze's futility and the country's pride in having made the attempt to stem the tide of the American advance in 1944-1945, this account, given by two former Kamikaze pilots, testifies to Japanese perspective of the last days of World War II. This book stands out among English-language translations of Japanese accounts of the Pacific war, and was translated by a former American officer who fought against the Japanese in the Pacific.