Kanoya Air Base Museum

Kanoya Air Base was established in 1936 on the Osumi Peninsula in southern Kagoshima Prefecture as an Imperial Japanese Navy air station. During the closing months of World War II, it became the single most important staging base for naval kamikaze operations.

From March 1945 until Japan's surrender on August 15, 1945, almost half of all kamikaze attacks launched by the Imperial Japanese Navy departed from Kanoya. Over 900 naval aviators flew one-way missions from the base during the Okinawa campaign and related operations. The youngest pilot was 16 years old; the oldest was 35, with over 90% aged between 18 and 24.

Key operations launched from Kanoya included the Jinrai Butai (Thunder Gods Corps) oka rocket-bomb attacks beginning March 21, 1945, and the Azusa Unit's 24 Ginga bomber strike on the Ulithi anchorage on March 11, 1945. The final kamikaze sortie of the war was led by Vice Admiral Matome Ugaki, who departed from Ōita airfield on August 15, 1945, hours after the Emperor's surrender broadcast.

The museum was established in 1973 and relocated to a new purpose-built facility in 1993. Its centerpiece is the world's only surviving Kawanishi H8K2 "Emily" flying boat — returned from the United States in 1979 and installed at Kanoya in 2004. A meticulously restored Mitsubishi A6M5 Model 52c Zero fighter is also on permanent display. The second floor is dedicated to the kamikaze pilots, with over 800 photographs, farewell letters, personal diaries, and biographical details of the young men who perished. The museum has received nearly two million visitors since its 1993 reopening.