Man missing since end of WWII returns to Japan

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 to be reunited with relatives.

Yoshiteru Nakagawa, who disappeared on Sakhalin Island in 1945 when the Soviets took it 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,” Mr Nakagawa, who still lives on Sakhalin, said in halting Japanese as he was escorted to the arrival hall, where relatives greeted him with applause and hugs.