Grenade

In these chapters, Hideki illustrates his newfound understanding of the fact that the Brutality of War is perpetuated by further violence and by fear. His refusal to use his grenade to kill the two Japanese soldiers in the machine gun nest illustrates his growing maturity; he no longer romanticizes killing others as manly and brave, but instead realizes that it should be avoided at all costs. When Hideki leaves behind his final grenade and stolen IJA uniform to approach the Americans in his underwear, the action is a literal surrender and a symbolic shedding of his soldier persona. Instead of dying as a fighter, he chooses to return to the potential of childhood: “To live, Hideki had to leave his only weapon behind” (233).

Hideki also ends the novel with an expanded, nuanced understanding of the shared humanity of Japanese and American people. As he explains to Kimiko, Masako, and the children, the US soldiers only react with violence when they feel threatened—just as Japanese soldiers would: “As long as we don’t make them scared, we’ll be all right” (232). Hideki no longer believes that Americans are inherently evil; he has shed the indoctrination of IJA propaganda as he has also rejected a commitment to acting for the Honor Culture of Imperial Japan. Fear is “why otherwise normal men become monsters. It wasn’t just when you threatened them. They became monsters when they were afraid” (240). Hideki’s new perspective –on his shared humanity with Okinawa’s invaders is confirmed when the US soldiers—led by Big John, whom readers recognize from his size and from his missing ear (an injury which occurred during the battle of Kakazu Ridge)—to allow the children to enter the camp. Furthermore, Big John is furious at the scared soldier for shooting Kazou: “The bear-man roared at the young soldier […] He was angry” (240).

Hideki’s connection to Ray is once again explored in these chapters. Just as Hideki is convinced that Ray’s mabui has followed him after Ray’s death, here Big John also seems to recognize Ray’s presence. In an unexplained, almost supernatural moment, Big John searches Hideki’s face, “looking around like there was somebody else there whom neither of them could see” (245) and, even more mystifyingly, addresses Hideki as “Rei.” In this moment, Hideki and Big John share a knowing understanding of the presence of Ray’s ghost; as Big John is surprised by his own sudden spirituality, Hideki feels intense recognition: “Hideki knew that feeling all too well [...] Did [Big John] recognize Rei’s mabui on Hideki?” (245). Ray’s convictions now settle on Big John, who used to dismiss Ray’s concerns about the US army’s racist lack of distinction between IJA fighters and Okinawan civilians. Big John’s decision to allow the refugee children to safely enter the camp marks his internalization of Ray’s lessons about treating Okinawan civilians with respect and compassion.

The motif of photographs ends the novel on a tone of mourning and hope. In a poignant gesture, two Japanese soldiers entrust their photographs to Hideki, which he interprets as their awareness of their imminent deaths: “They knew the Yamato was a lie. If not his lie, then somebody else’s. That the dream of victory was just that—a dream” (225). Hideki hangs these photographs, alongside the others that he and Ray collected, in the ruins of the Shuri Castle, a symbolic gesture designed to honor the sacrifices of both Japanese and American soldiers. The peacetime images capture these young men as the people they were before the war, rather than celebrating the violence they committed as soldiers. Taking the motif further, Hideki frames a photo with his fingers and imagines hope for a new beginning:

Tall buildings touching the clouds. Buses and cars crowding the streets. Fishing boats and passenger ships trolling the aquamarine sea. The trees were back, too, and the fields, green and purple and pink. Shuri Castle, rebuilt, stood bright red against the high blue sky. This was Okinawa, alive again, and stronger than ever before (254).

This image is metafictional, as it refers alludes to the postwar recovery of Okinawa and its growth into the modern metropolis and tourist destination it is today.