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.