was a

Japanese Japanese may refer to: * Something from or related to Japan, an island country in East Asia * Japanese language, spoken mainly in Japan * Japanese people, the ethnic group that identifies with Japan through ancestry or culture ** Japanese diaspor ...

explorer Exploration is the process of exploring, an activity which has some Expectation (epistemic), expectation of Discovery (observation), discovery. Organised exploration is largely a human activity, but exploratory activity is common to most organis ...

and

adventurer An adventure is an exciting experience or undertaking that is typically bold, sometimes risky. Adventures may be activities with danger such as traveling, exploring, skydiving, mountain climbing, scuba diving, river rafting, or other extreme ...

. In 1974 he searched for and found

Hiroo Onoda was a Japanese soldier who served as a second lieutenant in the Imperial Japanese Army during World War II. One of the last Japanese holdouts, Onoda continued fighting for nearly 29 years after the war's end in 1945, carrying out guerrilla war ...

, one of the last remaining

Japanese holdout Japanese holdouts () were soldiers of the Imperial Japanese Army (IJA) and Imperial Japanese Navy (IJN) in the Pacific Theatre of World War II who continued fighting after the surrender of Japan at the end of the war. Japanese holdouts either d ...

s who had refused to surrender after the end of

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

. Suzuki died in November 1986 in an avalanche while searching for the

yeti The Yeti ()"Yeti"
. ''Random House Webster's Unabridged Dictionary''. is an ape-like creature purported t ...

Early years

Suzuki was born in Chiba and lived in Ichihara. He studied economics at

Hosei University formerly known as Tokyo University of Law (東京法学社, Tokyo Hogakusha) is a top research university in Chiyoda, Tokyo, Japan. Hosei University and four other private universities in Tokyo are collectively known as "MARCH (Japanese univers ...

, but dropped out and decided to explore the world. He toured

Asia Asia ( , ) is the largest continent in the world by both land area and population. It covers an area of more than 44 million square kilometres, about 30% of Earth's total land area and 8% of Earth's total surface area. The continent, which ...

, the

Middle East The Middle East (term originally coined in English language) is a geopolitical region encompassing the Arabian Peninsula, the Levant, Turkey, Egypt, Iran, and Iraq. The term came into widespread usage by the United Kingdom and western Eur ...

and

Africa Africa is the world's second-largest and second-most populous continent after Asia. At about 30.3 million km2 (11.7 million square miles) including adjacent islands, it covers 20% of Earth's land area and 6% of its total surfac ...

. In 1972, after four years of wandering the world, he decided to return to

Japan Japan is an island country in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean off the northeast coast of the Asia, Asian mainland, it is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan and extends from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea ...

and found himself surrounded by what he felt as "fake".

Search for Hiroo Onoda

The Japanese media reported that a Japanese imperial soldier, Kinshichi Kozuka, was shot to death on an island in the

Philippines The Philippines, officially the Republic of the Philippines, is an Archipelagic state, archipelagic country in Southeast Asia. Located in the western Pacific Ocean, it consists of List of islands of the Philippines, 7,641 islands, with a tot ...

in October 19, 1972. Kozuka had been part of a guerilla "cell" originally consisting of himself and three other soldiers; of the four, Yuichi Akatsu had slipped away in 1949 and surrendered to what he thought were Allied soldiers; approximately five years later, Shōichi Shimada was killed in a shootout with a local patrol on the beach at Gontin.Hiskey, D. (2010)

''Today I Found Out - Feed Your Brain'' (February 9, 2010). Retrieved on October 8, 2016.

had long since been declared dead, the Japanese authorities assuming that he and Kozuka could not have survived all these years in the jungle; they were forced to re-think this when Kozuka's body was returned to Japan. This prompted a series of search efforts to find Lt. Onoda, all of which ended in failure. Suzuki then decided to search for the officer. He expressed his decision in this way: He wanted to search for "Lieutenant Onoda, a

panda The giant panda (''Ailuropoda melanoleuca''), also known as the panda bear or simply panda, is a bear species endemic to China. It is characterised by its white coat with black patches around the eyes, ears, legs and shoulders. Its body is ...

, and the Abominable Snowman, in that order".Brown, P. (2010)
Hiroo Onoda’s Twenty Nine Year Private War
''Pattaya Daily News'' (June 15, 2010). Retrieved on September 16, 2011. In February 1974, Suzuki encountered Onoda, who was wearing a tattered military uniform on

Lubang Island Lubang Island is the largest among the seven islands in the Lubang Group of Islands, an archipelago situated to the northwest of the northern tip of the island of Mindoro in the Philippines. It is positioned approximately 40 kilometers west of C ...

in the Philippines. He had survived a solitary life for two years after he lost the last of his two colleagues. When Onoda was first discovered, he was ready to shoot Suzuki at first sight, but fortunately, Suzuki had read all about the fugitive and quickly said: "Onoda-san, the

Emperor The word ''emperor'' (from , via ) can mean the male ruler of an empire. ''Empress'', the female equivalent, may indicate an emperor's wife (empress consort), mother/grandmother (empress dowager/grand empress dowager), or a woman who rules ...

and the people of Japan are worried about you." 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..."Willacy, M. (2010)
Japanese holdouts fought for decades after WWII
''ABC Lateline'' (November 12, 2010). Retrieved on September 16, 2011. Onoda refused to be relieved of his duties unless officially ordered to do so. After extended conversations, Onoda agreed to wait for Suzuki to return with his former commanding officer (who was now an old man working in a bookstore) to give him further orders. Onoda said, "I am a soldier and remain true to my duties." In March 1974, Suzuki returned with Onoda’s former commander, who officially relieved him of his duties. He turned over his sword, a functioning

Arisaka The Arisaka rifle () 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 1945. The most common model ...

Type 99 rifle, 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. Then he surrendered, was

pardon A pardon is a government decision to allow a person to be relieved of some or all of the legal consequences resulting from a criminal conviction. A pardon may be granted before or after conviction for the crime, depending on the laws of the j ...

ed by Philippine President

Ferdinand Marcos Ferdinand Emmanuel Edralin Marcos Sr. (September 11, 1917 – September 28, 1989) was a Filipino lawyer, politician, dictator, and Kleptocracy, kleptocrat who served as the tenth president of the Philippines from 1965 to 1986. He ruled the c ...

, and became free to return to Japan.

Death

After finding Onoda, Suzuki quickly found a wild panda, and claimed to have spotted a

yeti The Yeti ()"Yeti"
. ''Random House Webster's Unabridged Dictionary''. is an ape-like creature purported t ...

from a distance by July 1975, hiking in the

Dhaulagiri Dhaulagiri, located in Nepal, is the seventh highest mountain in the world at above sea level, and the highest mountain within the borders of a single country. It was first climbed on 13 May 1960 by a Swiss-Austrian-Nepali expedition. Annapur ...

range of the Himalayas. He married in 1976 but did not give up his quest. Suzuki died in November 1986 in an

avalanche An avalanche is a rapid flow of snow down a Grade (slope), slope, such as a hill or mountain. Avalanches can be triggered spontaneously, by factors such as increased precipitation or snowpack weakening, or by external means such as humans, othe ...

while searching for the yeti. His remains were discovered a year later and returned to his family.

References

Bibliography

External links

*
5:57 minute video of a 2010 news broadcast showing interview with 88-year-old Onoda, his wife, color footage of when he left the jungle in 1974, etc.
{{DEFAULTSORT:Suzuki, Norio Japanese explorers 1949 births 1986 deaths People from Chiba (city) Hosei University alumni Deaths in avalanches Date of birth missing