Nostalgic Japanese revisits RP jungle

Nostalgic Japanese revisits RP jungle

MANILA (AFP): Japanese former army officer Hiroo Onoda recalled the loneliness of hiding for 30 years in a jungle hideout in the Philippines, as he made a sentimental visit back to his former home.

"The strong winds and the rain," the 74-year-old former lieutenant and intelligence officer told reporters late on Monday, when asked what he remembered most about his time in the jungles of Lubang island, near the mouth of Manila Bay.

"As you know I did not have a roof above me," he said. "There was no contact, no communication at all," he added.

Onoda, who was deployed in the island in 1944, emerged from the jungle as a 51-year-old man on March 10, 1974, nearly three decades after his country's surrender.

He flew to Lubang yesterday, 22 years after his surrender, as a special guest of the provincial government.