Japanese Holdouts

Here are the results of a little research project on Japanese soldiers who hid on islands and in jungles after the end of World War II, not realizing or believing that the conflict was over. I collated information from a variety of of sources on the Web. Undoubtedly I could do better if I had access to Japanese sources and could read Japanese!

Confirmed Holdouts

1949                Two holdouts, Matsudo Linsoki and Yamakage Kufuku, discovered on Iwo Jima in January.

1950                Eight holdouts who survived for almost five years in the Papua-New Guinea jungle, with the help of a local village chief, returned to Japan in February 1950.

1950                In March 1950, Yuichi Akatsu surrenders on Lubang Island in the Philippines. He was part of the Hiroo Onoda holdout group (see below).

1951                A colony of holdouts existed on Anatahan Island in the Marianas north of Saipan from 1945 to 1951. There was only one woman among an initial group of more than 20 men, creating great sexual friction, and there were a number of violent deaths during the six-year period. The woman, Kazuko Higa, spotted an American ship offshore in July 1950 and took that opportunity to leave. The remaining men did not surrender and leave until one year later.

1953                Murata Susumu captured on Tinian.

1954                Shoichi Shimada killed by Philippine soldiers on Lubang in May 1954. Also part of the Onoda group.

1954                Four holdouts were discovered and brought out of the jungle on the Indonesian side of New Guinea. A fifth member of the group had died of malaria in 1947. 

1960                Tadashi Ito and Bunzo Minagawa were holdouts on Guam. Minagawa was captured in May 1960, and Ito surrendered that same month.

1972                Shoichi Yokoi captured on Guam in January 1972. He became a celebrity in Japan and died in 1997.

1972                Kinshichi Kozuka killed in shoot-out with Philippine police in October 1972. Part of the Onoda group.

1974                Kozuka’s fellow-hold-out Hiroo Onoda was relieved of his duty by his former commanding officer, who visited Lubang for that purpose in March 1974. Onoda returned to Japan but soon emigrated to Brazil to become a cattle rancher. He is still alive, and now splits his time between Brazil and Japan. It is known that he killed several people on Lubang during his time as a holdout.

1974                Teruo Nakamura (aka Attun Palalin) arrested on Morotai Island in Indonesia in December 1974. Although a private in the Japanese Army, he was a Taiwanese aboriginal, probably of the Amis tribe, and did not speak either Japanese or Chinese at the time of his capture. He chose to be repatriated directly to Taiwan and died there in 1979.

Phantom Holdouts, Not Really Holdouts, and Rumors

1965                Supposedly a holdout was located on the island of Vella Lavella in the Solomons, and he was persuaded to give up by the Japanese ambassador to the islands. Lack of a name and corroborating details make me suspicious of this one.

1970                There is an uncorroborated reference to the effect that a holdout was captured on Okinawa in the late 1960s or early 1970s.

1975                There was rumor of a holdout near the town of Rabaul on the island of New Britain off the east coast of Papua-New Guinea. A search was made but nothing was found.

1978                The Moon Travel South Pacific Handbook reports that a holdout was found on Vella Lavella in 1978 – this probably refers to the 1965 rumor and compounds it with a date error.

1980                It was reported that a hut possibly occupied by Fumio Nakahara had been discovered on Mount Halcon on Mindoro in the Philippines, by a search team that included his former comrade-in-arms Isao Mayazawa. The presence of a holdout had been confirmed by members of the local Mangyan tribe. Notes were left for him, but Nakahara never materialized.

1989                There were rumors of remaining holdouts on Vella Lavella. Possibly these were just publicity-seeking, since it was well-known by this point that there was an abiding fascination with holdouts among the Japanese.

1989                Kiyoaki Tanaka and Shigeyuki Hashimoto were discovered fighting with a Malaysian Communist Party unit. They were not hold-outs; they knew World War II had ended; they just never went home, and sought other adventures. There are undoubtedly a number of such cases.

1992                There were rumors of remaining holdouts on Kolombangara Island in the Solomons.

1997                A report that a holdout had been discovered on Mindoro among the Mangyan tribe proved to be false. It makes you wonder about the 1980 Fumio Nakahara possibility, since that was also related to the Mangyan tribe.

2001                As late as this date, there were rumors of holdouts on Mt. Makarakomburu on Guadalcanal Island in the Solomons.

2005                It was reported that Yoshio Yamakawa and Tsuzuki Nakauchi had been discovered on Mindanao in the Philippines. However, the “mediator” who was supposed to set up a meeting between them and Japanese officials went missing, leading most to suspect a hoax.

2006                Ishinosuke Uwano, thought dead after remaining on Russia’s Sakhalin Island after the war (where he was last seen in 1958), turned up married in the Ukraine, then returned to Japan for a visit. Not a holdout, but an interesting case. http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/4916294.stm