Posted on 07/02/2006 7:53:40 AM PDT by freepatriot32
TOKYO - A 79-year-old Japanese man who went missing at the end of World War II and resurfaced nearly six decades later in Russia went back to his homeland Sunday to be reunited with relatives.
Yoshiteru Nakagawa, who disappeared on Sakhalin island in 1945 when the Soviets took it over from Japan, arrived at New Chitose Airport on Japan's northern island of Hokkaido for the first time since he left Japan in 1939, when his family settled on Sakhalin.
"Little did I dream of being able to come back to Japan," Nakagawa, who still lives on Sakhalin, said in halting Japanese as he was escorted to the airport arrival hall, where his relatives greeted him with applause and hugs.
"I'm so overwhelmed with joy I don't even know how to express it in words," he added in Russian.
Details of Nakagawa's life in Russia after the war and family background were not known. He came forward five years ago and notified the Japanese embassy in Moscow of his intention to visit Japan.
About 400,000 Japanese lived on Sakhalin until the Soviet takeover in the closing days of the war. The majority returned to Japan, but many others were detained in prisons in Siberia.
During his two-week visit hosted by his younger sister Toyoko Chiba, Nakagawa plans to meet with other relatives and visit his parents' grave.
Yoshiteru Nakagawa, on wheel chair, is greeted by his sister Tomiko Orui, right, as he arrives at Shin Chitose airport, in Chitose, northern Japan, Sunday, July 2, 2006. A 79-year-old Japanese man who was left behind at the end of World War II and recently surfaced in Russia returned to his homeland Sunday for the first time in 67 years to be reunited with his relatives. (AP Photo/Kyodo News, Takuro Yabe)
Boy, can you imagine the pile of junk mail and newspapers he's going to have to go through. And the spam? Don't ask.
Boy, if I were him, I would hate to go through my inbox. ( I might however save the ads for certain pills..)
Japan * ping * (kono risuto ni hairitai ka detai wo shirasete kudasai : let me know if you want on or off this list)
Had the war been prolonged, the Soviet Union would have started marching down the Japanese islands from the north and would likely invaded Hokkaido, other parts of Japan, and possibly even used the opportunity to invade China and/or Korea (the Americans had people on the northern Chinese border at the end of the war because that was a very real concern). That would have left Japan split between the US and USSR like Germany and at least part of Japan under a Soviet-style system. That would have been bad for Japan as well as the United States. Rather than 4 little islands, the Soviets might have held Hokkaido and perhaps even half of Japan.
Had the US accepted a conditional surrender, American forces would not have occupied Japan, providing a protective umbrella against the Soviet Union and Communist China. The eviscerated Japanese military would have stood no chance against either of those forces and Japan would likely have been invade.
So if you ever hear a revisionist argue that the atomic bombs were not necessary, that's not true. Take their revisionist argument to the logical conclusion -- what would have happened if their alternative had been done, instead. The result would have been worse not only for the US but also for Japan. It's awful that so many civilians had to die in those bombings (including many Japanese Christians at Nagasaki), but the alternatives would all have been worse for both countries.
Imagine the cultural shock he must be going through. I would probably be pissed when I realized I spent my life on the wrong side of the Iron Curtain......
True....liberals never / seldom ever pay any / very little attention to history...esp. when its' "inconvenient" / show the failures of their Ideals.
More than a few Japanese taken captive by the Russians crossed over and became communists.
Sakhalin is the long narrow island just off the coast of Siberia, on the western side of the Sea of Okhotsk. Apparently it only was occupied by Russia in 1850 (that is, 10 years before Russia took the nearby part of the mainland from China).
I hope, for his sake, he had a few yen in a savings account somewhere...or maybe some back pay coming?
Good clarification!
This is an interesting book.
Speaking of long lost Japanese, we were cleaning out the glove box in the car yesterday and I told my wife she could get rid of the three pairs of glasses I had in there because they were all old. She opened up one case and there were two 5000 yen bills all folded into a little square. Neither one of us remembers putting them there.
Not to mention all the pings!!
He'd better read This Thread first.
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