Saburo Sakai

In this Japanese name, the family name is Sakai.

Sakai wearing military pilot uniform.

Saburo Sakai (Japanese: 坂井三郎, Sakai Saburō, August 25, 1916 – September 22, 2000) was a Japanese naval pilot and fighter ace ("Gekitsui-O") of the Imperial Japanese Navy during World War II. He was the 4th best Japanese pilot by number of enemy aircraft he shot down. He survived the war, and became a famous figure for his criticism of the War and the government of the Japanese Empire. He became a pacifist and a Buddhist and promised that he would never again kill another living thing, even a mosquito. Only months before his death, Sakai told reporters that he still prayed for the souls of the Chinese, American, Australian and Dutch pilots he had killed. He also helped Microsoft design the popular computer game Combat Flight Simulator 2.

Sakai shot down 64 enemy airplanes, including a B-32 Dominator on the last day of the war.

Other websites

• The Last Samurai
• "Saburo Sakai passed away September 22, 2000"
• Memorial To Saburo Sakai
• Copy of Sakai's New York Times Obituary
• Excerpt from Samurai
• WarbirdForum: An afternoon with Saburo Sakai
• Sakai's Mercy over Java
• Interview with Sakai during the production of "Microsoft Combat Flight Simulator 2'"'
• "A new-found friend, the man who killed my father"
• PBS: Secrets of the Dead