Man Missing Since WWII Returns to Japan

The Associated Press

July 2, 2006

TOKYO - A 79-year-old Japanese man who went missing at the end of World War II and resurfaced nearly six decades later in Russia went back to his homeland Sunday to be reunited with relatives.

Yoshiteru Nakagawa, who disappeared on Sakhalin island in 1945 when the Soviets took it over from Japan, arrived at New Chitose Airport on Japan's northern island of Hokkaido for the first time since he left Japan in 1939, when his family settled on Sakhalin.

"Little did I dream of being able to come back to Japan," Nakagawa, who still lives on Sakhalin, said in halting Japanese as he was escorted to the airport arrival hall, where his relatives greeted him with applause and hugs.

"I'm so overwhelmed with joy I don't even know how to express it in words," he added in Russian.

Details of Nakagawa's life in Russia after the war and family background were not known. He came forward five years ago and notified the Japanese embassy in Moscow of his intention to visit Japan.

About 400,000 Japanese lived on Sakhalin until the Soviet takeover in the closing days of the war. The majority returned to Japan, but many others were detained in prisons in Siberia.

During his two-week visit hosted by his younger sister Toyoko Chiba, Nakagawa plans to meet with other relatives and visit his parents' grave.