Last week a former soldier of the Imperial Japanese Army, whose family has not seen him since he was mobilized for World War Two, arrived in Japan from Ukraine. The 83-year-old war veteran Isinosuke Uwano will spend ten days in Iwate prefecture, where his close relatives reside, Iryna Vuytsyk, an employee in the political section of the Japanese Embassy in Ukraine, told The Day. She said that the old Japanese soldier is visiting the Country of the Rising Sun together with his Ukrainian son.
The embassy refuses to disclose how long and where Uwano has been living in Ukraine. His son’s age is also not known. We also failed to learn whether the former soldier can still speak Japanese. The embassy employee explained that these secrets are closely guarded at the request of the Japanese veteran, who does not want to be bothered by journalists. He categorically refuses to grant interviews.
Ms. Vuytsyk only revealed that after the war Uwano, together with other prisoners of war, was brought to the Russian island of Sakhalin. Initially declared missing in action, he was later officially pronounced killed in the line of duty. Late last year, a friend of Uwano’s asked the embassy to find out whether he was really Japanese and had relatives in his native country. The Japanese veteran agreed to be vetted, and in December the Japanese authorities confirmed that the ex-soldier of the imperial army still has relatives living in Japan.
The embassy employee noted that this is the first time in Ukraine that a Japanese citizen has identified himself after so many years of silence and applied for help to visit his family. The embassy has not ruled out the possibility of granting Japanese citizenship to Uwano if he submits a request.
