Around 2km west of town, Chiran’s air base was the point of departure for 1036 WWII kamikaze pilots (tokkō), the largest percentage in the Japanese military. On its former site, the large, thought-provoking Kamikaze Peace Museum presents aircraft, mementos and photographs of the fresh-faced young men selected for the Special Attack Corps. It’s worth investing in the English-language audioguide (¥100), which harrowingly tells individual pilots’ stories.
