Survivor fears Japan on path to war

Author, 82, worries that reluctance to discuss painful issues may mean repeating past mistakes

Katsumoto Saotome was 12 the night he ran for his life through a sea of flames, jumping over smoldering railroad ties along a train track as US B-29 bombers rained incendiary bombs down around him.

The US bombing after midnight on March 10, 1945, destroyed a wide swath of northeastern Tokyo, packed with small factories and houses made of wood and paper.