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was an
Imperial Japanese Army The was the official ground-based armed force of the Empire of Japan from 1868 to 1945. It was controlled by the Imperial Japanese Army General Staff Office and the Ministry of the Army, both of which were nominally subordinate to the Emperor o ...
intelligence Intelligence has been defined in many ways: the capacity for abstraction, logic, understanding, self-awareness, learning, emotional knowledge, reasoning, planning, creativity, critical thinking, and problem-solving. More generally, it can be des ...
officer who fought in
World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposing ...
and was a
Japanese holdout Japanese holdouts ( ja, 残留日本兵, translit=Zanryū nipponhei, lit=remaining Japanese soldiers) were soldiers of the Imperial Japanese Army and Imperial Japanese Navy during the Pacific Theatre of World War II who continued fighting World Wa ...
who did not surrender at the war's end in August 1945. After the war ended, Onoda spent 29 years hiding in the
Philippines The Philippines (; fil, Pilipinas, links=no), officially the Republic of the Philippines ( fil, Republika ng Pilipinas, links=no), * bik, Republika kan Filipinas * ceb, Republika sa Pilipinas * cbk, República de Filipinas * hil, Republ ...
until his former commander travelled from Japan to formally relieve him from duty by order of
Emperor Shōwa Emperor , commonly known in English-speaking countries by his personal name , was the 124th emperor of Japan, ruling from 25 December 1926 until his death in 1989. Hirohito and his wife, Empress Kōjun, had two sons and five daughters; he was ...
in 1974.Willacy, M. (2010)
Japanese holdouts fought for decades after WWII
''ABC Lateline'' (12 November 2010). Retrieved on 16 September 2011.
Powers, D. (2011)
Japan: No Surrender in World War Two
''BBC History'' (17 February 2011). Retrieved on 16 September 2011.
He held the rank of second lieutenant in the Imperial Japanese Army. One of the last remaining and most famous Japanese holdouts, Onoda was the second to last Japanese soldier to surrender, with
Teruo Nakamura was a Taiwanese- Japanese soldier of the Imperial Japanese Army who fought for Japan in World War II and did not surrender until 1974. He was the last known Japanese holdout to surrender after the end of hostilities in 1945. Military service N ...
surrendering later in 1974.


Early life

Onoda was born on 19 March 1922, in Kamekawa Village, Kaisō District,
Wakayama Prefecture is a prefecture of Japan located in the Kansai region of Honshu. Wakayama Prefecture has a population of 944,320 () and has a geographic area of . Wakayama Prefecture borders Osaka Prefecture to the north, and Mie Prefecture and Nara Prefecture ...
, Japan. When he was 17 years old, he went to work for the Tajima Yoko trading company in
Wuhan Wuhan (, ; ; ) is the capital of Hubei Province in the People's Republic of China. It is the largest city in Hubei and the most populous city in Central China, with a population of over eleven million, the ninth-most populous Chinese city an ...
, China.Brown, P. (2010)
Hiroo Onoda's Twenty Nine Year Private War
''Pattaya Daily News'' (15 June 2010). Retrieved on 16 September 2011.

(''c.'' 2010). Retrieved on 3 April 2011.
When he was 18, he enlisted in the Imperial Japanese Army Infantry.


Military service

Onoda trained as an intelligence officer in the of the
Nakano School The was the primary training center for military intelligence operations by the Imperial Japanese Army during World War II. History The Imperial Japanese Army had always placed a high priority on the use of unconventional military tactics. From be ...
. On 26 December 1944, he was sent to
Lubang Island Lubang Island is the largest island in the Lubang Group of Islands, an archipelago which lies to the northwest of the northern end of Mindoro in the Philippines. The Lubang Islands are about southwest of Manila. There are seven islands in the gro ...
in the Philippines.Kawaguchi, J. (2007)
Words to live by: Hiroo Onoda
''The Japan Times'' (16 January 2007). Retrieved on 16 September 2011.
He was ordered to do all he could to hamper enemy attacks on the island, including destroying the airstrip and the pier at the harbor. Onoda's orders also stated that under no circumstances was he to surrender or take his own life. When he landed on the island, Onoda joined forces with a group of Japanese soldiers who had been sent there previously. The officers in the group outranked Onoda and prevented him from carrying out his assignment, which made it easier for the United States and Philippine Commonwealth forces to take the island when they landed on 28 February 1945. Within a short time of the landing, all but Onoda and three other soldiers had either died or surrendered. Onoda, who had been promoted to lieutenant, ordered the men to take to the hills.


Time in hiding

Onoda continued his campaign as a
Japanese holdout Japanese holdouts ( ja, 残留日本兵, translit=Zanryū nipponhei, lit=remaining Japanese soldiers) were soldiers of the Imperial Japanese Army and Imperial Japanese Navy during the Pacific Theatre of World War II who continued fighting World Wa ...
, initially living in the mountains of
Lubang Island Lubang Island is the largest island in the Lubang Group of Islands, an archipelago which lies to the northwest of the northern end of Mindoro in the Philippines. The Lubang Islands are about southwest of Manila. There are seven islands in the gro ...
in the Philippines, with three fellow soldiers (
Private Private or privates may refer to: Music * " In Private", by Dusty Springfield from the 1990 album ''Reputation'' * Private (band), a Denmark-based band * "Private" (Ryōko Hirosue song), from the 1999 album ''Private'', written and also recorde ...
Yuichi Akatsu,
Corporal Corporal is a military rank in use in some form by many militaries and by some police forces or other uniformed organizations. The word is derived from the medieval Italian phrase ("head of a body"). The rank is usually the lowest ranking non- ...
Shōichi Shimada and Private First Class Kinshichi Kozuka). During his stay, Onoda and his companions carried out guerrilla activities and engaged in several shootouts with the local police.McFadden, Robert, Hiroo Onoda, whose war lasted decades, dies at 91, ''The New York Times'', 18 January 2014, p.18 The first time they saw a leaflet announcing that Japan had surrendered was in October 1945; another cell had killed a cow and found a leaflet left behind by islanders which read: "The war ended on 15 August. Come down from the mountains!" However, they distrusted the leaflet. They concluded that it was Allied propaganda and also believed that they would not have been fired on if the war had indeed been over. Toward the end of 1945, leaflets were dropped by air with a surrender order printed on them from General Tomoyuki Yamashita of the Fourteenth Area Army. To the men who had been in hiding for over six months, this leaflet was the only evidence they had that the war was over. Onoda's group studied the leaflet closely to determine whether it was genuine, and decided it was not. One of the four soldiers, Yuichi Akatsu, walked away from the others in September 1949 and surrendered to Philippine forces in March 1950, after six months on his own. This seemed like a security problem to the others and they became even more cautious. In 1952, letters and family pictures were dropped from an aircraft urging them to surrender, but the three soldiers concluded that this was a trick. Shimada was shot in the leg during a shoot-out with local fishermen in June 1953, after which Onoda nursed him back to health. On 7 May 1954, Shimada was killed by a shot fired by a search party looking for the men. Kozuka was killed by two shots fired by local police on 19 October 1972 while he and Onoda, as part of their guerrilla activities, were burning rice that had been collected by farmers. Onoda was now alone. On 20 February 1974, Onoda met a Japanese man, Norio Suzuki, who was traveling around the world, looking for "Lieutenant Onoda, a
panda The giant panda (''Ailuropoda melanoleuca''), also known as the panda bear (or simply the panda), is a bear species endemic to China. It is characterised by its bold black-and-white coat and rotund body. The name "giant panda" is sometimes use ...
, and the
Abominable Snowman The Yeti ()"Yeti"
''
Suzuki found Onoda after four days of searching. Onoda described this moment in a 2010 interview: "This hippie boy Suzuki came to the island to listen to the feelings of a Japanese soldier. Suzuki asked me why I would not come out...". Onoda and Suzuki became friends, but Onoda still refused to surrender, saying that he was waiting for orders from a superior officer. Suzuki returned to Japan with photographs of himself and Onoda as proof of their encounter, and the Japanese government located Onoda's commanding officer, Major Yoshimi Taniguchi, who had long surrendered and since become a bookseller. Taniguchi went to
Lubang Island Lubang Island is the largest island in the Lubang Group of Islands, an archipelago which lies to the northwest of the northern end of Mindoro in the Philippines. The Lubang Islands are about southwest of Manila. There are seven islands in the gro ...
, and on 9 March 1974, he finally met with Onoda and fulfilled a promise he had made back in 1944: "Whatever happens, we'll come back for you". Taniguchi then issued Onoda the following orders: Onoda was thus properly relieved of duty, and he surrendered. He turned over his sword, a functioning
Arisaka The Arisaka rifle ( ja, 有坂銃, Arisaka-jū) is a family of Japanese military bolt-action service rifles, which were produced and used since approximately 1897, when it replaced the Murata rifle (, ) family, until the end of World War II in ...
Type 99 rifle The was a bolt-action rifle of the Arisaka design used by the Imperial Japanese Army during World War II. History During the Second Sino-Japanese War in the 1930s, the Japanese soon found that the 7.7mm cartridge being fired by their Type 92 ...
, 500 rounds of ammunition and several hand grenades, as well as the dagger his mother had given him in 1944 to kill himself with if he was captured. Only Private
Teruo Nakamura was a Taiwanese- Japanese soldier of the Imperial Japanese Army who fought for Japan in World War II and did not surrender until 1974. He was the last known Japanese holdout to surrender after the end of hostilities in 1945. Military service N ...
, arrested on 18 December 1974 in
Indonesia Indonesia, officially the Republic of Indonesia, is a country in Southeast Asia and Oceania between the Indian and Pacific oceans. It consists of over 17,000 islands, including Sumatra, Java, Sulawesi, and parts of Borneo and New Guine ...
, held out longer.


Later life

Onoda was very popular following his return to Japan and some people urged him to run for the
Diet Diet may refer to: Food * Diet (nutrition), the sum of the food consumed by an organism or group * Dieting, the deliberate selection of food to control body weight or nutrient intake ** Diet food, foods that aid in creating a diet for weight loss ...
(Japan's bicameral legislature). He also released an autobiography, ''No Surrender: My Thirty-Year War'', shortly after his return, detailing his life as a guerrilla fighter in a war that was long over. A Philippine documentary interviewed people who lived on
Lubang Island Lubang Island is the largest island in the Lubang Group of Islands, an archipelago which lies to the northwest of the northern end of Mindoro in the Philippines. The Lubang Islands are about southwest of Manila. There are seven islands in the gro ...
during Onoda's stay, revealing that Onoda had killed several people, which he had not mentioned in his autobiography. The news media reported this and other misgivings, but at the same time welcomed his return home. The Japanese government offered him a large sum of money in back pay, which he refused. When money was pressed on him by well-wishers, he donated it to
Yasukuni Shrine is a Shinto shrine located in Chiyoda, Tokyo. It was founded by Emperor Meiji in June 1869 and commemorates those who died in service of Japan, from the Boshin War of 1868–1869, to the two Sino-Japanese Wars, 1894–1895 and 1937–1945 resp ...
. Onoda was reportedly unhappy being the subject of receiving much attention and troubled by what he saw as the withering of traditional Japanese values. In April 1975, he followed the example of his elder brother Tadao and left Japan for
Brazil Brazil ( pt, Brasil; ), officially the Federative Republic of Brazil (Portuguese: ), is the largest country in both South America and Latin America. At and with over 217 million people, Brazil is the world's fifth-largest country by area ...
, where he raised
cattle Cattle (''Bos taurus'') are large, domesticated, cloven-hooved, herbivores. They are a prominent modern member of the subfamily Bovinae and the most widespread species of the genus ''Bos''. Adult females are referred to as cows and adult ma ...
. He married in 1976 and assumed a leading role in the ''Colônia Jamic'' (Jamic Colony), a Japanese community in Terenos, Mato Grosso do Sul, Brazil. Onoda also allowed the Brazilian Air Force to conduct training sessions on the land that he owned. After reading about a Japanese teenager who had murdered his parents in 1980, Onoda returned to Japan in 1984 and established the ''Onoda Shizen Juku'' ("Onoda Nature School") educational camp for young people, held at various locations in Japan.
President of the Philippines The president of the Philippines ( fil, Pangulo ng Pilipinas, sometimes referred to as ''Presidente ng Pilipinas'') is the head of state, head of government and chief executive of the Philippines. The president leads the executive branch of t ...
Ferdinand Marcos granted him a full pardon for his actions against local residents in a televised ceremony. As a result, controversy followed when Onoda revisited
Lubang Island Lubang Island is the largest island in the Lubang Group of Islands, an archipelago which lies to the northwest of the northern end of Mindoro in the Philippines. The Lubang Islands are about southwest of Manila. There are seven islands in the gro ...
in 1996, because his wife Machie Onoda ( née Honoku) had arranged a
US$ The United States dollar (symbol: $; code: USD; also abbreviated US$ or U.S. Dollar, to distinguish it from other dollar-denominated currencies; referred to as the dollar, U.S. dollar, American dollar, or colloquially buck) is the official ...
10,000 scholarship donation on his behalf to the local school there. In 2006, Machie Onoda became the head of the conservative Japan Women's Association (JWA), established by the conservative group in September 2001. For many years, Onoda spent three months of the year in Brazil. Onoda was awarded the Merit medal of Santos-Dumont by the Brazilian Air Force on 6 December 2004. On 21 February 2010, the Legislative Assembly of Mato Grosso do Sul awarded him the title of ''Cidadão'' ("Citizen").


Death

Onoda died of heart failure on 16 January 2014, at St. Luke's International Hospital in Tokyo, from complications due to
pneumonia Pneumonia is an inflammatory condition of the lung primarily affecting the small air sacs known as alveoli. Symptoms typically include some combination of productive or dry cough, chest pain, fever, and difficulty breathing. The severi ...
. Japanese Chief Cabinet Secretary, and later
Prime Minister A prime minister, premier or chief of cabinet is the head of the cabinet and the leader of the ministers in the executive branch of government, often in a parliamentary or semi-presidential system. Under those systems, a prime minister i ...
,
Yoshihide Suga is a Japanese politician who served as Prime Minister of Japan and President of the Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) from 2020 to 2021. He had served as Chief Cabinet Secretary during the second administration of Prime Minister Shinzo Abe fro ...
, commented on his death: "I still vividly remember that I was reassured of the end of the war when Mr. Onoda returned to Japan" and also praised his will to survive.


In popular culture


Books

* ''わがルバン島の30年戦争'' '30 Years War on the Island of Lubang''
Tokyo Tokyo (; ja, 東京, , ), officially the Tokyo Metropolis ( ja, 東京都, label=none, ), is the capital and List of cities in Japan, largest city of Japan. Formerly known as Edo, its metropolitan area () is the most populous in the world, ...
: 講談社 okyo Kōdansha 1974. . 248 pages. * ''No Surrender: My Thirty-Year War''. Translated by Charles S. Terry. New York: Dell Publishing, 1974. , . 251 pages. *


Interviews

* ''Hiroo Onoda describes his private thirty years of war against the United States''. Broadcast on ''
The Mike Douglas Show ''The Mike Douglas Show'' was an American daytime television talk show that was hosted by Mike Douglas. It began as a local program in Cleveland before being carried on other stations owned by Westinghouse Broadcasting. The show went into natio ...
'', February 14, 1975.


Film

* ''
The Last Flight of Noah's Ark ''The Last Flight of Noah's Ark'' is a 1980 American Children's film, family adventure film produced by The Walt Disney Company, Walt Disney Productions starring Elliott Gould, Geneviève Bujold and Ricky Schroder. The film was released by Walt Di ...
'' (1980) is an American family adventure film where civilians meet two elderly Japanese holdout sailors who have lived alone on an uncharted island for 35 years. * ''Onoda's War'' (2016), independent short film * ''Holdout'' (2016), independent short film * ''The Last Imperial Soldier'' (2018) is a short fictionalized account inspired by the life of Onoda. * '' Onoda: 10,000 Nights in the Jungle'' (2021)


Television

* '' Gilligan's Island'' episode "So Sorry, My Island Now" (S1 Ep15) centered around the character of "Japanese Sailor" who, arriving on the island in a mini-sub, thinks it's still WWII and holds the castaways prisoner on their own island. * ''
The Six Million Dollar Man ''The Six Million Dollar Man'' is an American science fiction and action television series, running from 1973 to 1978, about a former astronaut, USAF Colonel Steve Austin, portrayed by Lee Majors. After a NASA test flight accident, Austin is re ...
'' episode "The Last Kamikaze" (S2 Ep14) involved a search for a new type of atomic weapon lost on an island with a Japanese pilot who believed the war was still going on. * ''
Archer Archery is the sport, practice, or skill of using a bow to shoot arrows.Paterson ''Encyclopaedia of Archery'' p. 17 The word comes from the Latin ''arcus'', meaning bow. Historically, archery has been used for hunting and combat. In m ...
'' episode “The Holdout” (S6 Ep1) depicts a character Sato Kentaro, a hold out marooned on Borneo, who believes WWII is still underway and is convinced to assist Archer with his mission.


Music

* The '' Nude'' album released in 1981 by English progressive rock band Camel is based on Hiroo Onoda's story.


See also

* List of
Japanese holdout Japanese holdouts ( ja, 残留日本兵, translit=Zanryū nipponhei, lit=remaining Japanese soldiers) were soldiers of the Imperial Japanese Army and Imperial Japanese Navy during the Pacific Theatre of World War II who continued fighting World Wa ...
s *
List of solved missing person cases Lists of solved missing person cases include: * List of solved missing person cases: pre-2000 * List of solved missing person cases: post-2000 See also * List of kidnappings * List of murder convictions without a body * List of people who di ...
*
Shoichi Yokoi was a sergeant in the Imperial Japanese Army (IJA) during the Second World War, and was one of the last three Japanese holdouts to be found after the end of hostilities in 1945. He was discovered in the jungles of Guam on 24 January 1972, almos ...
, among the last three Japanese holdouts to be found after the war, he was discovered in the jungles of
Guam Guam (; ch, Guåhan ) is an organized, unincorporated territory of the United States in the Micronesia subregion of the western Pacific Ocean. It is the westernmost point and territory of the United States (reckoned from the geographic cent ...
in 1972 *
Siege of Baler The siege of Baler ( fil, Pagkubkob sa Baler; es, Sitio de Baler) was a battle of the Philippine Revolution. Filipino revolutionaries laid siege to a fortified church defended by Spanish troops in the town of Baler, Aurora, for 337 days, from ...
* Survival skills *
Teruo Nakamura was a Taiwanese- Japanese soldier of the Imperial Japanese Army who fought for Japan in World War II and did not surrender until 1974. He was the last known Japanese holdout to surrender after the end of hostilities in 1945. Military service N ...
, the last known Japanese holdout to surrender, he was discovered in December 1974,
Morotai Island Morotai Island ( id, Pulau Morotai) is an island in the Halmahera group of eastern Indonesia's Maluku Islands (Moluccas). It is one of Indonesia's northernmost islands. Morotai is a rugged, forested island lying to the north of Halmahera. It ha ...
,
Indonesia Indonesia, officially the Republic of Indonesia, is a country in Southeast Asia and Oceania between the Indian and Pacific oceans. It consists of over 17,000 islands, including Sumatra, Java, Sulawesi, and parts of Borneo and New Guine ...


Footnotes


Works cited

*


Further reading

* Robert D. McFadden
"Hiroo Onoda, Soldier Who Hid in Jungle for Decades, Dies at 91,"
''New York Times,'' 17 January 2014.


External links

* (also with
Shoichi Yokoi was a sergeant in the Imperial Japanese Army (IJA) during the Second World War, and was one of the last three Japanese holdouts to be found after the end of hostilities in 1945. He was discovered in the jungles of Guam on 24 January 1972, almos ...
). *.
Onoda Shizen Juku


''abc.net.au'' *Taylor, Alan. [https://www.theatlantic.com/infocus/2011/10/world-war-II-after-the-war/100180/ Image No. 45 (last at bottom): Photo of Onoda wearing his sword, on his last day before being relieved, with narrative caption], World War II: After the War, A Retrospective in 20 Parts. ''The Atlantic'', 30 October 2011. *.
Hiroo Onoda obituary
''
The Daily Telegraph ''The Daily Telegraph'', known online and elsewhere as ''The Telegraph'', is a national British daily broadsheet newspaper published in London by Telegraph Media Group and distributed across the United Kingdom and internationally. It was f ...
''.
Hiroo Onoda fought WWII For 30 Additional Years (video)

Hiroo Onoda (middle): The Imperial Japanese soldier who hid in the Philippine jungle for 30 years after WWII. March 11, 1974 (photo)
Imgur. {{DEFAULTSORT:Onoda, Hiroo 1922 births 2014 deaths Formerly missing people Imperial Japanese Army officers Japanese autobiographers Japanese emigrants to Brazil Japanese expatriates in the Philippines Japanese holdouts Imperial Japanese Army personnel of World War II Members of Nippon Kaigi Military history of the Philippines during World War II Missing person cases in Japan People from Wakayama Prefecture Recipients of Philippine presidential pardons