Kushira Naval Air Base Ruins (Kushira Peace Park)

Kushira Naval Air Base was established in April 1944 on the Osumi Peninsula in Kagoshima Prefecture as an Imperial Japanese Navy facility for crew training, maintenance instruction, and navigator education. Approximately 5,000 young apprentice pilots trained at the base during its operational period.

On March 1, 1945, the base was redesignated as a special attack (kamikaze) sortie base under the command of the 5th Air Fleet. Over the final six months of the war, it became one of the principal kamikaze launch sites, alongside Kanoya (908 deaths) and Chiran (439 deaths). A total of 363 men died in kamikaze missions and more than 200 in conventional attacks from Kushira (published figures give 202 or 210).

Notable units that operated from Kushira included the Shiragiku (White Chrysanthemum) squadrons using obsolete training aircraft as suicide planes, and the Goō squadrons. The Kikusui Tenzan-tai launched operations toward Okinawa on April 6, 1945. The youngest pilots were teenagers; over 90 percent were between 18 and 24 years old.

The base featured two intersecting runways — 1,300 meters east-west and 1,200 meters north-south. An underground telegraph command room was constructed to avoid air raids; operators inside received the final Morse code transmissions from pilots after takeoff, often a simple long dash signifying their final dive. This underground facility survives intact and is open to visitors (9:00–16:00).

After the war, the runway traces were preserved as straight roads. In 1971, former Kushira residents who had relocated to the Kansai region organized a campaign to plant cherry trees along the 3-kilometer runway paths. Today about 1,000 cherry trees — predominantly Somei Yoshino and weeping cherry varieties — line the former runways, transforming the site into one of the Osumi Peninsula's premier sakura viewing spots each spring.

The Kushira Naval Air Base War Dead Memorial Tower was erected in October 1969 by the town and a dedicated construction association. Stone tablets inscribed with the names, squadrons, and farewell messages of the fallen surround the tower. An annual memorial ceremony is held on October 15, attended by surviving veterans, bereaved families, and Kanoya City residents. The park was featured in the 2007 film 'Ore wa, Kimi no Tame ni Koso Shini ni Iku' (I Go to Die for You).