What do you think was going through the minds of the young Japanese "Kamikaze" pilots as they took off on their one way mission?

Its for their country. They may have shed a tear losing their family but they loved Their country more

I imagine they thought they were going to be making a sacrifice that had to be made for their country, for their family, for their core beliefs.  Not to stir the pot of controversy too much but I find it interesting how the Japanese pilots in various forms of media tend to be almost waxed a bit poetically. What separates what they did from the suicide bombers of today? I would imagine suicide bombers to have the same thoughts going through their head.

The dedication of the Japanese people to their emperor at the time was something America had never seen before---they would fight to the death and were extremely reluctant to surrender.

One of the episodes on the history channel recently had a film of a number of those pilots sitting on the ground at small tables and drinking Saki before takeoff with their plains in the back ground.

It certainly would be understandable if they were attempting to take the edge off their superegos so they would be able to complete their missions.

Mixed emotions hardly covers it. I'd guess that they'd have been well schooled in the Samurai tradition in the days leading up to their final flight. They'd have flown off bravely, fearing death but proud that, in dying, they were helping their country toward victory. Of course, it was a victory that never came but they weren't to know that.

A few years ago, a guy named Mello Blue, a former Vietnam marine sergeant, posted this quote on Ask: "Death smiles at all men. Marines smile back!" Perhaps the kamikaze pilots had their own version of that thought.