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Summary: A great book written by a true military hero.
Review: I read this book while I was in high school. It gripped me from begining to end. Saburo was a proud and disciplined flyer. His combat prowess seems almost super-human, but as he is quick to remind us knowing the aircraft's capabilities and the tendencies of your enemy is half the battle. His description of the unsuccessful surgery to repair his face and eye after shrapnel is really painful to read. Amazingly, despite the lack of vision in one eye he continued to fly for the Empire, though with a severe handicap. This book is excellent. Anyone interested in learning about Japanese WWII aviation needs to read this book, you will not be dissappointed.
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Summary: The single best book of Japanese WW2 aviation
Review: In the Naval Air Museum bookstore when I was 14, the kindly sales rep (a retired F4F Wildcat pilot) recommended this book to me. I practically memorized it. This is the inspiring story of Saburo Sakai, one of the few Japanese pilots to survive the entire war. Highly readable, gripping, informative, and pretty accurate, although as an Imperial Japanese NAVY pilot, Sakai is a bit too hard on his Army counterparts. But any serious student of the Pacific Theater simply must read this. Take it from me-- I've been into WW2 history all my literate life, and Samurai! is one of the unforgettable highlights.
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Summary: an honest and humane life story of a great ace
Review: Saburo is a legend by himself, but his book proved that he is far more than that. He is a mundane mortal who possesed all kinds of feelings attributed to a man.The book described his anguish, his joy and fear. He did not try to potray himself as someone who was invicible, for he was also a human being that could be overcome with emotions. He vividly described his fear and excitement upon facing the enemeis. And he also humanely described his anguish and total hopelesness when he was half blinded and had to be grounded. He had a deep compassion for flying. And his love for his country is something current generation has taken for granted.
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Summary: A vivid look at the Pacific war from the other perspective.
Review: Saburo Sakai was a national hero in Japan as its greatest surviving air ace of world war two. This book is his story. It is a fascinating and honest look at the air war in the Pacific from the Japanese perspective. Sakai is shown to have been a patriotic and heroic fighter, who, like most soldiers, gave little thought to the politics of the war. Like young men in many lands in many times, when his country called, he answered. Sakai gives us an honest assessment of both sides as regards the Pacific air war. There is little or no jingoism here. He highlights some of the critical mistakes that the Japanese navy made in the war--one of which was that before the war the Navy only turned out about 100 pilots a year--not remotely enough for the total war Japan was about to wage against the world's greatest industrial power. The standards for entering and graduating from the Naval air training course in Japan were unreasonably high, and simply prevented the country from producing the number of pilots it would come to need. When the Americans eliminated over 300 Japanese pilots in 3 days at the Battle of Midway, Japan never recovered the loss of these trained men. On the other hand, Sakai reminds the American reader that in the Japanese America faced a motivated, intelligent, and very brave foe deriving from a violent military tradition. The book also includes some very interesting glimpses at the Japanese home front during the war. Life in prewar Japan was hard for the lower classes--sufficiently hard that even the savage discipline (which Sakai describes at length) of the Japanese Navy appeared to be a reasonable alternative to the grinding poverty he otherwise faced. Overall, a wonderful look at "the other side of the hill" and into the mind of one of World War Two's greatest air combat pilots.
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Summary: AN INTIMATE LOOK AT OUR ENEMY IN WORLD WAR II
Review: Sakai died last year, but his legacy lives on in this remarkable autobiography (written with Martin Caidin). Reading this frank and memorable work makes one wonder how the Japanese ever got the notion that they could win a war against the United States. It is clear that their strategy of "bushido spirit" over technological innovation was doomed, and Sakai graphically depicts how the Zero fighter--once the top of the line aircraft of the Pacific Theater--fell behind the Allied designs until the once-formidable fighter was totally outmoded. Read this volume alongside Bergerud's FIRE IN THE SKY and Yoshimura's ZERO FIGHTER.
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Summary: Wow!
Review: Sakai's perspective is one that is long overdue, or perhaps more accurately long overlooked. Rarely does a book disolve time in the fashion Sakai's account of the Pacific air campaigns of WWII. Chapter after chapter fall away alomost unnoticed. His almost off-handed descriptions of the slow demise of the Japanese way of life from utopian to that of nearly abject despair as the US forces slowly encroach the Japanese home islands parallels the obsolesence of the Zero's once dominant role in the air to being nothing more than good target practice for the steadily improving American fighters and bombers. If a complaint is to registered, it would be that our author regrettably leaves us scratching for the details of his experiences with the most advanced fighters Japan was developing toward the end of the war. He devote little attention to subject matter that had only a precious few to comment on from a test pilot's first hand point of view.
Rating: 
Summary: Like a Cherry Blossom
Review: Samurai is Saburo Sakai's own story of his times as a naval aviator for the Imperial Japanese Navy. Mr. Sakai tells us about his past (yes, his ancestors were samurai's), his time spent learning to be a naval aviator, the pre-war (meaning hostilities prior to those with the US), and yes, his time fighting US pilots.
Things that I personally found very interesting in his telling:
What Japanese Naval personnel (aviators and non-aviators) went thru in basic training. Very brutal treatment. Mr. Sakai tells about Petty Officers beating trainees, ordering them to do physical things that bordered on the impossible. Aviation training was better, but only from the perspective of beating not occuring due to minor infractions. However, the standards they were held to... Obviously, the training was not run by kinder, passionette people.
Mistakes in combat. Mr. Sakai remembered his mistakes so well. The simple fact of failing to arm the guns, over shooting a target, or worse yet, failing to properly identify the target (Mr. Sakai mistook a unit of TBM/TBF Avengers for F6F Hellcats).
His respect for his opponent. Most of Mr. Sakai's combat time was spent in New Guinea flying against US units that were flying P-39's and P-40's. Both of these planes were outclassed by the A6M Zero in almost every category except diving (note, since neither the P-39 or P-40 were supercharged at this timeperiod of the war, their performance went from bad below 15,000 feet, to terrible if they went above 15,000, thereby denying them altitude to dive for an extended period). When this is merged with the fact that the Japanese pilots were combat seasoned veterans, while the Americans were green, it makes for a bad time for those flying the P-39's and P-40's. In remembering these engagements, Mr. Sakai spoke very well of how the US pilots tried to engage the Japanese pilots.
Mr. Sakai's writing style if very readable. It's direct, to the point, without great flurishes or breast beating. This does not mean that it's unemotional, but rather that when he uses emotion, it's very memorable. For rating purposes, I have to give this 4 out of 5 stars (Amazon rating system). I don't know how he could have made it better (writing style?) but I can definatly say that it's a very good read!
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Summary: Samurai
Review: Samurai was the best book I have ever read about the Japanese air force. I was amazed of how vividly the author discribes all his hardships and all his victories. This is an absolute MUST for anyone that is interested in the Japanese air force.
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Summary: Samurai!
Review: The enduring tale of the WWII exploits of Saburo Sakai, an exceptionally talented Japanese fighter pilot and remarkable human being who earned the distinction of being Japan's greatest living ace by the war's end, with 64 air combat victories. Samurai! has achieved classic status, and deservedly so - once you begin reading this highly engrossing book, you'll be hard-pressed to stop!
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Summary: Another perspective
Review: This book did a wonderful job of portrying the war from the Japanese perspective, and really gave me an insight into the mind of the "enemy". Sakai proves that he is indeed human, but not in a way that many westerners readily understand. It was an eye opener for me for sure.
Have to say that Sakai has to be one of the toughest SOBs in the world, flying back to base with wounds that would have killed most people, and landing safely!!!
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