War Survivors Share Horrific Experiences at Last Gathering, Former Japanese Soldier Speaks of Hellish Conditions

The Yomiuri Shimbun

14:44 JST, September 28, 2025

Fourteen war survivors, including a 100-year-old former Japanese soldier, took the stage and recounted their harrowing war experiences at a gathering in Tokyo on Saturday.

The meeting themed “Can I die without speaking?” was organized by Japan Veterans Video Archive Project, a Tokyo-based citizens’ group that has been collecting and recording accounts of people who experienced World War II.

“It was just like hell,” Takeji Sakaue, 100, of Aira, Kagoshima Prefecture, said in a strained voice. He recalled the time when he fled into the jungles of Mindanao Island, the Philippines, driven by U.S. forces in 1945.

While roaming around, Sakaue found a Japanese soldier leaning against a tree root with a smile on the face. However as he approached, it was obvious that the soldier was already dead, with maggots wriggling around the eyes and mouth. That was why the soldier looked as if he was smiling, with his eyes half-open, showing white teeth. The stench of death hung in the air, Sakaue recalled.

Sakaue also shared the story of another Japanese soldier who came asking for shelter while he was hiding in a hut deep in the jungle. With no room to spare for helping others, he refused. The following day, he found the soldier dead nearby, with what appeared to be family photos scattered around him.

“Thinking about how the soldier perished while yearning for home made my heart ache,” Sakaue said.

Since its establishment in 2004, the group has recorded video testimonies from about 1,800 people.

The gathering to share their accounts was first held in 2007. About 800 audience members listened to war survivors’ experiences at Saturday’s meeting, which became the last such event due to the aging of war survivors.

“From now on, we want to focus our efforts on editing and releasing the collected videos, as well as gathering materials related to the war,” said Junko Nakata, 51, the group’s secretary general.