Excerpts from an article by Bill Burlingame
After a lifetime of avoiding the spotlight, Kazuo Sakamaki passed away on Nov. 29, 1999, at 81. As an ensign in the Japanese imperial navy, Sakamaki and crewman Kyoshi Inagaki were aboard a tiny "midget" submarine that was pummeled by American depth charges and cannon shells at the entrance to Pearl Harbor on the morning of Dec. 7, 1941. Sakamaki was captured by Hawaiian soldier David Akui. All the rest of the midget submariners perished in the attack, and Sakamaki was deeply humiliated to be taken alive as Prisoner of War No. 1.
Sakamaki moved steadily around POW camps on the mainland United States, an experience that offered him lots of solitary time to reflect on the nature of war. When the war ended, he returned to Japan deeply committed to pacifism. There, Sakamaki was not warmly received. He wrote an account of his experience, titled "The First Prisoner" in Japan and "I Attacked Pearl Harbor" in the United States, and thereafter refused to speak about the war.
He found work with the Toyota Motor Corp. and became president of the Brazilian subsidiary in 1969. In 1983, he returned to Japan where he worked for Toyota before retiring in 1987.
I recently came across your blog and have been reading along. I thought I would leave my first comment. I dont know what to say except that I have enjoyed reading. Nice blog. I will keep visiting this blog very often.
Alena
http://www.sunscreenstips.com
Posted by: Alena | 12/08/2008 at 08:22 AM
I recently came accross your blog and have been reading along. I thought I would leave my first comment. I dont know what to say except that I have enjoyed reading. Nice blog. I will keep visiting this blog very often.
Alena
www.sunscreenstips.com
Posted by: Alena | 12/08/2008 at 08:23 AM