The Soldier Who Wouldn't Believe the War Was Over

In March 1974, Japanese intelligence officer Hiroo Onoda finally emerged from the Philippine jungle on Lubang Island, where he had been hiding for twenty-nine years. The Second World War had ended in 1945, but Onoda refused to believe it. Leaflets dropped from planes, newspapers left on trails, even family members calling through loudspeakers — none of it convinced him. The news was simply too large, too disruptive to the reality he had built around himself.…