Chanpon

I wrote a comment on my blog about how I hoped that the tragic shuttle accident does not mean that we stop the space program. I mentioned a Japanese submarine captain who was involved in a trial of one of the first Japanese submarines. There is an amazing diary of the captain as he and his crew suffocate at the bottom of the sea.

There is an interesting chanpon discussion on my blog entry and Chie and Mike identified the story and found a website with the Japanese as well as the translation into English.

Lieutenant Sakuma

We now sacrifice our lives for the sake of our country, but my fear is that the disaster will affect the future development of submarines. It is therefore my hope that nothing will daunt your determination to study the submarine until it is a perfect machine, absolutely reliable. We can then die without regret.