Ishinosuke Uwano

Ishinosuke Uwano
Born October 1922 (age 95–96)
Ōno, Iwate, Japan
Allegiance  Empire of Japan
Service/branch  Imperial Japanese Army
Years of service 1941–45
Battles/wars
Children 3

Ishinosuke Uwano (上野 石之助, Uwano Ishinosuke, October 1922) is a former soldier in the Japanese Imperial Army and a prisoner of war in the Soviet labour camps, who came to media prominence in April 2006 after it was found that he had been living voluntarily in Ukraine for six decades after the end of World War II. He had been recorded as dead in official Japanese databases.

Background

Uwano was stationed in the Japanese half of Sakhalin Island at the end of the war, and had been in contact with his family as late as 1958. He subsequently married a Ukrainian woman and settled in Kiev, where he had three children. However, his lack of contact with his family led to the declaration that he was legally dead in 2000; as a result, when he returned to Japan to visit family in 2006, he had to enter his homeland on a Ukrainian passport.

Disappearance

The last time that Uwano's family saw him was in Sakhalin in 1958. After that, they lost all contact with him. He reappeared in Ukraine in 2006.

See also

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