Ivan Morris (who many probably know for his superb translation of Sei Shonagon's Pillow Book and his excellent study of Heian Japan, The World of the Shining Prince), gives us a study of heroes that failed. The book has ten chapters, nine dedicated to one person each, and the tenth dealing with the kamikaze fighters of World War II. Morris traces a long and enduring tradition in Japanese culture that not only sanctioned self-sacrifice, but made it mandatory in many cases. We do have self-sacrifice in our Western tradition, but it is invariably linked to success: Heroes that die so that their cause may survive and triumph. We tend to worship our successful heroes, the ones that win or at least the ones that lose their lives but whose ideals are victorious