Dreams Beyond War: Reflections 80 Years After Japan's Defeat

[K_mars]

In 2025, Japan marks 80 years since the end of World War II. Japan underwent rapid modernization, producing many aircraft. However, after the war, aircraft production temporarily came to a halt, with only a few models being manufactured.

The 2013 animated film The Wind Rises, directed by Hayao Miyazaki, is based on the life of Jiro Horikoshi, the designer of the Zero fighter plane. Although the film is a work of fiction, the real Jiro Horikoshi laid the groundwork for the design of the YS-11 passenger plane after the war. This design was later completed under the leadership of a young engineer, Teruo Tojo. Incidentally, in The Wind Rises, Tojo is depicted as the person waving a flag during the test flight of the Zero prototype.

The dream of Jiro Horikoshi and his peers was not to create aircraft as weapons of war, but to design airplanes as peaceful means of transportation. This fact symbolizes the tragedy of war and the resilience and rebirth that followed.

[lastvautour]

Thank you for the clarification. It is greatly appreciated that you set the record straight.

Louis