Samurai in the Oregon Sky

On September 9th, 1942, the Japanese submarine I-25 surfaced in the Pacific Ocean off the coast of Oregon. The I-25 had a top-secret design; it was an aircraft-carrying submarine, its existence unknown to Americans at the time. That morning, pilot Nobuo Fujita catapulted a plane off the deck of the submarine, flew over the forests of southern Oregon, and became the only enemy pilot to drop bombs on the U.S. mainland during WWII.

Twenty years later, a group of Jaycees (Junior Chamber of Commerce) wondered about the man who had bombed the forests just outside their town of Brookings, Oregon. They were looking for a project to embody their motto: “The brotherhood of man transcends the sovereignty of nations.” What if they tracked down this pilot and invited him to visit, in a show of peace?

What happened next began a 30-year friendship between Nobuo Fujita and the people of Brookings, Oregon. Samurai in the Oregon Sky tells the story of this peaceful reconciliation using never-before-seen archives, animation, and interviews with those who experienced these events. Available in both the English language version (with English subtitles) and the Japanese language version (with Japanese subtitles).