JAPAN: Japanese 'lost' war veteran Ishinosuke Uwano eturns home for the first time in 63 years

Record ID: 206150

  • Title: JAPAN: Japanese 'lost' war veteran Ishinosuke Uwano eturns home for the first time in 63 years
  • Date: 19th April 2006
  • Summary: (SOUNDBITE)(Russian) ISHINOSUKE UWANO, RETURNING JAPANESE WAR VETERAN, SAYING: "(The reason I forgot Japanese) is because of the Soviet regime."
  • Embargoed: 4th May 2006 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Japan
  • Country: Japan
  • Topics: International Relations,Defence / Military
  • Reuters ID: LVA3IANOXX04VS9F96I9YPJ7AEBF
  • Story Text: A Japanese war veteran lost for over 63 years and believed to be dead has returned to Japan from Ukraine where he recently resurface.
    Ishinosuke Uwano, now 83 years old, landed at Narita International Airport on Wednesday (April 19) after a long absence from his homeland in Japan.
    According to Japanese media, Uwano was a former Imperial Japanese Army soldier when he went missing in the far east of Russia. He was last spotted in the Soviet Union in 1958 but in 2000 a local Japanese family court declared him dead. The Japanese embassy in Kiev however earlier this year received information that Uwano was still alive and confirmed his residence in Zhytomyr, west of Kiev.
    Uwano, who says he no longer speaks Japanese, told Japanese press at his arrival he was glad to be back in Japan to visit his relatives.
    "I feel good being back and as I haven't spoken Japanese in 63 years I would like to say to all "Konnichiwa. (Japanese for 'Good day'," Uwano said through an interpreter.
    Asked why he no longer spoke Japanese, Uwano added: "(It) is because of the Soviet regime."
    After meeting with his Japanese relatives in northern Japan, Uwano plans to return to the Ukraine where he has now settled with his Ukrainian wife, two daughters and son.
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