Ishinosuke Uwano
Ishinosuke Uwano | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Born | October 1922 |
| Died | 2013 (aged 90–91) |
| Nationality | Japanese, Soviet, Ukrainian |
| Children | 3[1] |
Ishinosuke Uwano (上野 石之助, Uwano Ishinosuke; October 1922 – 2013) was a Japanese soldier who later became a Soviet and Ukrainian citizen. An officer in the Imperial Japanese Army, he was captured as a Soviet prisoner of war. Declared dead in Japan, he attracted media attention in April 2006 after he was discovered alive in Ukraine, where he lived voluntarily after his release.[2]
Missing person case
Uwano was stationed in Karafuto Prefecture on Sakhalin at the end of World War II. He had been in contact with his family as late as 1958.[3] The last time that Uwano's family saw him was in Sakhalin in 1958.[4] After that, they lost all contact with him.[4]
According to Japanese media, Uwano moved to Ukraine in 1965.[3] He subsequently married a Ukrainian woman and settled in Zhytomyr, where he had three children.[3][4] However, his lack of contact with his family led to the declaration that he was legally dead in 2000.[1]
Uwano contacted the Japanese embassy in Ukraine in 2006 and returned to Japan.[4] Because he had been declared legally dead (in Japan), when he returned to Japan to visit family in 2006 he had to enter the country on a Ukrainian passport.[1]
See also
References
- ^ a b c "Missing WWII vet returns to Japan". BBC News. 19 April 2006. Retrieved 20 March 2019.
- ^ "戦後ウクライナで生活した洋野町出身の元日本兵の親族の思い＜岩手県＞" [Thoughts of relatives of former Japanese soldiers from Hirono Town who lived in Ukraine after the war <Iwate Prefecture>]. Yahoo! News (in Japanese). 25 February 2022. Archived from the original on 18 March 2022. Retrieved 18 March 2022.
- ^ a b c "Japanese WWII veteran found in Ukraine has reunion with family". USA Today. Associated Press. 20 April 2006. Archived from the original on 15 October 2012. Retrieved 20 March 2019.
- ^ a b c d "Japanese WWII soldier found alive". BBC News. 18 April 2006. Retrieved 20 March 2019.