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The war is over -

Japan officially surrendered on September 2, 1945. Though the announcement made via radio broadcast to the country by Emperor Hirohito in August 1945 might not have reached everyone.

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Communications difficulties -

The Japanese Empire was rather vast back then, stretching from the continent to a large area of the Pacific.

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Communications difficulties -

Communication across the empire was challenging, especially after the Allies destroyed so many key infrastructures.

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Defeat was a tough pill to swallow -

Many Japanese simply did not want to believe their nation had surrendered. Many literally chose not to live with the defeat. Others simply didn’t buy it and thought the news was nothing but Allied propaganda.

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Sakae Ōba -

One of those men was captain Sakae Ōba. The Imperial Japanese Army official, together with 46 soldiers and 160 civilians, hid and engaged in guerilla warfare on the island of Saipan.

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Sakae Ōba -

Oba “The Fox” kept fighting for 16 months after Saipan had fallen, and for three months after WWII had ended. He surrendered to the Americans on December 1, 1945. Ōba passed away in 1992, at the age of 78.

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Ei Yamaguchi -

Lieutenant Ei Yamaguchi was among the survivors after American forces took the island of Peleliu in 1944. Yamaguchi and others hid and moved around using a network of underground tunnels. They never got the memo about the end of the war.

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Ei Yamaguchi -

A holdout was captured in April 1947, but there were many others hidden who still thought Japan was at war. A Japanese admiral had to be flown into the island to confirm the news. It was not until April 21, 1947, that Ei Yamaguchi and the other holdouts emerged and surrendered.

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Ishinosuke Uwano -

The southern half of Sakhalin island (Russia) was under Japanese control at the time. The Soviets invaded that part of the island and Ishinosuke Uwano was captured and sent to a camp in Siberia. Uwano’s family and friends lost track of him.

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Ishinosuke Uwano -

Ishinosuke Uwano eventually left the camp and became a Soviet citizen. He built a family and life in the then-Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic. When he returned to Japan, he had lost his citizenship, because he had been declared dead since 2000!

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Noboru Kinoshita -

In 1944, Noboru Kinoshita’s ship was attacked by the Americans and sunk off the Philippines. He was among the few survivors who made it to Samar island. Kinoshita then joined the Japanese forces and went deep into the jungles of Luzon island on a military mission.

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Noboru Kinoshita -

Unaware that the war was over, Noboru Kinoshita survived in the jungle, waiting to be rescued at some point. He did so for 11 years. In 1955, Noboru Kinoshita was arrested by Filipino police after being caught stealing sweet potatoes from a farmer. Kinoshita took his own life one month after being captured.

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Shoichi Yokoi -

The Imperial Japanese Army sergeant was the third-longest holdout. After American forces took Guam, Yokoi and nine other soldiers fled to the jungle. Shoichi Yokoi outlived them all, with his last two companions dying in 1964.

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Shoichi Yokoi -

Yokoi learned about the Japanese defeat in 1952, but still refused to surrender. In January 1972, two local men found Shoichi Yokoi and took him back to civilization. Pictured is a replica of Yokoi’s original cave, where he lived for decades.

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Shoichi Yokoi -

Despite spending the last 28 years isolated in the jungle, Yokoi adapted well to city life in Japan, where he became a popular celebrity. Yokoi died in 1997.

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The Anatahan castaways -

In 1944, a Japanese convoy was attacked and sunk off Anatahan, an island in the Northern Mariana Islands. A total of 36 men made it to the island, where they were welcomed by the head of a coconut plantation and his wife. Shortly after, the Americans took the main Mariana Islands, bypassing the small Anatahan, but leaving it isolated from communications and resources.

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The Anatahan castaways -

The castaways struggled to survive, until January 1945, when a B-29 bomber crashed into the island. The castaways used the plane’s metal scraps to make useful items—parachutes for clothing, nylon cords for fishing lines, etc.

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The Anatahan castaways -

There was only one woman on the island, Kazuko Higa, whose husband mysteriously disappeared after the soldiers arrived. She eventually married a castaway named Kikuichiro Higa, who was later killed. Men were competing for Higa’s affection, who reportedly had a series of lovers.

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The Anatahan castaways -

Things got even worse when the group discovered how to ferment coconut wine. The presence of alcohol on the island may or may not have been related to the whooping 12 murderers that had occurred by 1951!

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The Anatahan castaways -

Though leaflets were airdropped on the island, informing the group that the war was over, they dismissed it as enemy propaganda. They eventually surrendered in 1951.

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The Anatahan castaways: Kazuko Higa -

Kazuko Higa, who was later nicknamed “The Queen Bee of Anatahan,” became famous in Japan. But she would move on to a life of prostitution before dying at age 51, by that time working as a garbage collector.

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Hiroo Onoda -

Hiroo Onoda is one of the most famous holdouts. A trained commando working as a spy, Onoda hid in the island of Lubang in the western Philippines, after the Americans took control of it. Lieutenant Onoda and his men survived in the jungle for nearly 30 years.

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Hiroo Onoda -

Leaflets, as well as letters and pictures from their families, were airdropped on the island, but Onoda and his men dismissed them all as fake news. Onoda eventually started to lose his companions (one voluntarily left, one was killed by a search party, and another was shot dead by a police officer), until he was left alone.

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Hiroo Onoda -

It was not until 1974 that a backpacker stumbled across Hiroo Onoda. Still refusing to accept defeat, the Japanese government had to track down Onoda’s former commanding officer, from whom he received the instructions to surrender. Only then did Onoda hand in his sword.

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Hiroo Onoda -

Throughout his holdout, Onoda destroyed lots of property and killed a number of civilians in the Philippines. He was, however, never held to account for his crimes.

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Hiroo Onoda -

Hiroo Onoda returned to Japan as a hero. A year later, he emigrated to Brazil, where he became a rancher. Onoda passed away in 2014, aged 91.

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Teruo Nakamura -

Teruo Nakamura was “the last of the last” Japanese holdouts. Nakamura was on Morotai island (present-day Indonesia) in 1944, when the Americans took the island. He fled to the jungle with a group of soldiers.

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Teruo Nakamura -

The group remained together for about a decade, but then in 1956 Nakamura decided to go solo. He was eventually spotted by a pilot, who alerted the authorities. On December 18, 1974, Teruo Nakamura was captured and flown to Jakarta to receive medical care.

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Teruo Nakamura -

Though unlike Hiroo Onoda, Teruo Nakamura didn’t receive as much attention in Japan. Perhaps due to the fact that Nakamura was a colonial soldier from what became the independent nation of Taiwan. Being a colonial soldier means that he wasn’t a member of the Imperial Japanese Army.

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Teruo Nakamura -

Not being a member of the Imperial Japanese Army, Nakamura was not entitled to any pension or benefits. Onoda was awarded about US$160,000 by Japan, whereas Nakamura got paid just $227. Teruo Nakamura returned to Taiwan and passed away five years later from cancer.

Sources: (The Guardian) (BBC) (Warfare History Network) (History Collection) (INQUIRER.net) (YourStory)

See also: What was the internment of Japanese Americans all about?

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