Post-ww2 Japanese Soldier(s), What great survival skills! Options

[Eclectic Asian]

I just watched on the History Channel today about a man named Hiroo Onoda, a Japanese soldier who finally surrendered in 1974....an astounding 29 years after Japan lost WW2! It was a story of epic proportions and i was moved by how this man was told not to die by his hand (because this goes against his tradition). I was also amazed how he survived in the jungles of Lubang, Philippines for 29 years in which he first started off with a large group of soldiers and then it narrowed to himself after his comrades surrendered/gave up/killed in action.

Upon returning to Japan, he was regarded as a national hero and honorable warrior. However, he still retained the mentality of 1944 and was shocked at how different Japan had become. Consequently, he married and moved to Brazil where he has a cattle ranch.

His survival skills were truly amazing, he would have to resort to stealing from the villages (for supplies) and living off coconuts, wild life, etc. to survive. He was also able to keep his gun in good condition after all that time. He is still alive today and he visited Lubang in 1996, but there was much controversy in this. Back when he surrendered in 1974, Filipino President Ferdinand Marcos pardoned him. It was estimated that he and his comrades have killed an estimated 30+ citizens in Lubang. However, the present citizens of Lubang regard him as a war criminal. I say he is a determined and loyal soldier and that it was right to pardon him from those killings because he did not know that the war was over. However, i do feel sorry for the innocent lives lost.

Overall, a great story.
http://history1900s.about.com/library/weekly/aa120700a.htm

There were more like him!
http://history1900s.about.com/library/weekly/aa120700a.htm

I am wondering if there were any other post-war soldiers (such as the Germans, etc.) in our world's past wars. ok peace (IMG:http://www.asiafinest.com/forum/style_emoticons/default/cool30.gif)

[AtlantisStar]

Yeah I read about it.

[Ogumo]

Yes I was curious as to how many of you knew about him. He seems rather stupid if you ask me. "I didn't know we were defeated". I saw video tape of when this guy came off of the plane and back to japan. That was funny.

[CJK]

lol, thats true...how can he not know that they were defeated. He must of killed all the filipinos that were trying to tell him that it's over.

Man, i would love to see that video of him returning to Japan. He must of been like "WTF!" when he got off the plane.

[Eclectic Asian]

No but see, while i was watching this documentary about this man on the History Channel, he was trained as a guerilla fighter and was told to survive at all costs. He was also trained to be skeptical so when flyers and search parties went all around Lubang telling that the war was over, he thought the enemy (the Allies) went to great lengths in trying to trick him. He didn't even believe it was really his brother when he heard his voice from a helicopter above him! Additionally, the flyers that were dropped on this island had many grammatical mistakes (it was written in Japanese) so he knew for sure it was a trick.

He had great confidence in his country and knew that Japan had not lost the war; he knew that his country had lost the war if every Japanese citizen/soldier was killed in the war and since he was alive, he thought to himself that the war was still going on. he was even told by his superiors that war could last up to 100 years if it had to (remember the 100 years war? i forgot the sides that partook in this battle)

But he wasn't the only straggler after the war. There were many others just like him! (See the link on my first post! :genius: )

[Rad Raz]

The guy is simply an idiot... I bet the world is laughing at him right now.

[YManchun]

I would love to see a video of him getting off the plane.

[Eclectic Asian]

well if you saw the documentary that was shown on the History Channel, you would see things differently... (IMG:http://www.asiafinest.com/forum/style_emoticons/default/icon_neutral.gif) :genius:

[Nam Quoc Son Ha]

Wow... amazing... and stupid (IMG:http://www.asiafinest.com/forum/style_emoticons/default/embarassedlaugh.gif)

[Ogumo]

well if you saw the documentary that was shown on the History Channel, you would see things differently... (IMG:http://www.asiafinest.com/forum/style_emoticons/default/icon_neutral.gif) :genius:

No need. I already know all about the man. As I said before he is a fool. When I say they went all out for his return they went all OUT. The plane he rode had this enormous red sun. There were what looked to be about a thousand people to see the japanese soldier return. Each had a little flag. Little children out there. I think this was back in the 70s or late 60s. The celebration of a fool's return home. It still bothers me that they were so happy about this man. I mean they didn't even celebrate itokawa's rocket launch like that.

[Eclectic Asian]

well how can one be labeled a fool for being an ardent and loyal fighter for his country? like i said, he was trained to survive at all costs and also trained to be highly skeptic (i must overemphasize this!). the flyers that came down from the sky had grammatical errors so he thought it was a trick. he was even told by his superiors that war could last 100 years if it has to. he would only be convinced that japan had lost the war if he found out that all the japanese died because he knew that all the japanese would fight until the death for the service of their emperor. when he realized that japan had lost, he said quote "how could they be so sloppy?" i mean you can think he is dumb but i personally think him as a loyal and well trained fighter who was only following orders that were given to him way back in 1944. and besides, i saw the footage also (from the tv documentary) when he came back to japan. everyone was cheering for him and regarded him as a national hero and to some as the last samurai (since he strictly followed his code/orders). oh yea, the title of this documentary was called "The Last Surrender."

[barkerintokyo]

There are many cases of this happening. During the seventies and sixties there were many soldiers found hiding from the Japanese government. They feared the Japanese imperial government and the punishment they would receive for deserting the army. They were infact sad victims of imperial Japan's brainwashing.

Many of the victims had actually known of Japan's defeat and the end of WWII (from newspapers and such) and yet they feared returning to their country. These people survived in the jungle off of stealing cattle and such.

They are yet another example of the mistakes the Japanese made during WWII.

[IORI]

The world war 2 japanese soldier was an animal

He would resort to cannibalism and barabric acts of cruelty to people


I saw a picture of a dead chinese civilian whose entire leg was eaten by japanese soldiers and all that was left was his leg bone.

[barkerintokyo]

That just shows how badly the war was going for the Japanese. There was widespread famine in Japan and the best food was going to the soldiers and still they had not enough food to survive. I can't believe America still dropped TWO nuclear bombs on us even though we were in no condition to fight.

[Rad Raz]

Well, the Americans believe they were the good guys, and japanese were the bad guys. Dropping two a-bombs were justfied by Truman himself and the rest of the congress.

[barkerintokyo]

Truman's justification is as follows:

"[Truman] was convinced that using the atomic bomb would in the end save lives by avoiding an American invasion against 'savages, ruthless, merciless, and fanatic.'" (pp.1368 of America A Narrative History Fifth Edition by George Brown Tindall and David E Shi)

Truman was just a racist.

[Rad Raz]

And it was also a perfect opportunity to show the American's might to the Soviets.

[Made in China]

That just shows how badly the war was going for the Japanese. There was widespread famine in Japan and the best food was going to the soldiers and still they had not enough food to survive. I can't believe America still dropped TWO nuclear bombs on us even though we were in no condition to fight.

What do you expect when you bomb Pearl Harbor?

US was in the Great Depression when Japan decided to provoke war with it.

China was in Civil War when Japan invaded it !

(IMG:http://www.asiafinest.com/forum/style_emoticons/default/icon_rolleyes.gif)

[barkerintokyo]

Well you should know that Pearl Harbor was NOT a surprise attack to the US. This is starting to become common knowledge more and more. In about fifty years or so, this should be found in all US history textbooks. FDR started WWII in the US's interest, not Japan. And TWO ATOM BOMBS were never necessary for ending the war. America's top military advisors were all against the dropping of the bomb. The motivations behind dropping it were purely political and scientific. SHOW TO THE WORLD AND ESPECIALLY TO THE SOVIET UNION OUR MIGHT was their reasoning. And the even worse reasoning, the scientific one, LET'S DO THE GREATEST HUMAN EXPERIMENTATION WE CAN DO WITHOUT GETTING IN TROUBLE FOR. Two atom bombs is just human experimentation. What the US did is just as bad as what the Nazis did to the Jews. America knew that they would get no retribution. THey could just say that it was a war tactic but it was clear the scientists just wanted to know the effects of nuclear bombs on PEOPLE. It is sickening.

[jimkim]

Well you should know that Pearl Harbor was NOT a surprise attack to the US. This is starting to become common knowledge more and more. In about fifty years or so, this should be found in all US history textbooks. FDR started WWII in the US's interest, not Japan. And TWO ATOM BOMBS were never necessary for ending the war. America's top military advisors were all against the dropping of the bomb. The motivations behind dropping it were purely political and scientific. SHOW TO THE WORLD AND ESPECIALLY TO THE SOVIET UNION OUR MIGHT was their reasoning. And the even worse reasoning, the scientific one, LET'S DO THE GREATEST HUMAN EXPERIMENTATION WE CAN DO WITHOUT GETTING IN TROUBLE FOR. Two atom bombs is just human experimentation. What the US did is just as bad as what the Nazis did to the Jews. America knew that they would get no retribution. THey could just say that it was a war tactic but it was clear the scientists just wanted to know the effects of nuclear bombs on PEOPLE. It is sickening.

The dropping of the 2 bombs was American payback for Pearl Harbor. The internment of Japanese citizens as well.