American in the JAAF?

[fsbofk]

Although not about a pilot, Russell Spurr's account of IJN Yamato's final mission off Okinawa ("A Glorious Way to Die") tells of several nisei sailors who were in the Japanese navy. Ensign Shigeo Yamada, on board the cruiser Yahagi, was born in Idaho and "raised on potatoes," and his friend Kunio Nakatani, on Yamato, was from Sacramento. Each was sent to universities in Japan by their families, and were there when Japan went to war with the US. Faced with imprisonment (or possible execution as suspected spies) or collaboration, they enlisted in the navy. Another Yahagi crewman, Ensign Kuramoto, had been born in Santa Monica. Yamada survived the war; though not able to retrieve his US citizenship, he went to work in the US for Japan Air Lines, finally returning to Japan as a JAL vice president.