Were the Kaiten “suicide submarines”?

There are indications that the pilots theoretically had an option to escape the Kaiten before it exploded. “They were allowed to build a prototype with the understanding that a means be provided for the pilot to be ejected before the torpedo struck.” (“Submarines of the Imperial Japanese Navy” by Dorr Carpenter and Norman Polmar, page 137.)

However, that may not have been practical. The Kaiten would have been traveling at 40 knots. It would have been very difficult, if not impossible for a pilot to escape. In any case, being as near to the target as the Kaiten pilot was expected to be, the explosion would likely have killed him even if he got free. For comparison, many survivors of sinking ships later died from the concussion of depth charges while they were in the water. The Kaiten warhead would have been much bigger than that of a depth charge leaving the pilot with an even smaller chance of survival. As a result, the Kaiten may not have been designed as a suicide submarine, but it almost certainly turned out to be so.