The story moves at a good pace. Onoda describes how he lived for 30 years on a small island, still fighting WW2. He was thoroughly brainwashed--came up with ways to distrust the updates they were given trying to get them to surrender. Great insight into the Japanese thinking prior to WW2 and how the world was plunged into that conflict...even, by extension, the ending of the war, too. ( )

This was one of the best, most poignant books I've read in years. Onoda is a surprisingly good author. He gets your attention immediately, then progresses through an autobiographical sketch leading to his arrival on Lugon, that immerses you in pre-war and wartime Japanese culture. If you have some familiarity with that culture, the events of the book are easier to understand; he was thoroughly brainwashed. I found the sections of tortured reasoning to square the profundity of evidence of the war's end with their faith that it was not, painful insights into the nature of humanity, that drove these malnourished men to work themselves to the bone daily, fighting their own war thirty years after ours ended.

You will attend his greatest and most painful moments as if you were by his side. Accept him as he is, set aside your incredulity, and you will gain an incredible human experience. ( )

No Surrender: My Thirty-Year War is a memoir by a Japanese soldier who held out in the mountains from 1944 to 1974. He lived off bananas and beef rustled from villagers who knew his shadowy presence in the mountains as the devil. The survival story is interesting, but what sets this apart is the psychology of denial that allowed him to believe, despite overwhelming evidence to the contrary, that WWII was still going on. The depth of denial was absolute. It didn't matter this his own family arrived with bullhorns, hometown newspapers and even a transistor radio to prove reality. Nope, everything was a conspiracy by the Americans. More disturbing than Dostoevsky, it is the mind of insanity laid bare. Though he does not mention it, he killed several people during his 30 years in hiding. He received no punishment and was hailed a hero but really was a menace who killed without reason, an example how humans can pointlessly deceive themselves to destruction. ( )

Amazing. Mindboggling. Confounding. Doesn't answer any of your questions and you remain just as confused as when you first pick up the book but the journey with Mr. Onoda is fascinating.

Last year I read a news article announcing the death of Hiroo Onoda. I had never heard of him before but upon reading his story I knew that I had to know about this interesting character. Onoda is a Japanese soldier who fought in the Philippines at the end of the second world war. However, even when the war ended he did not stop fighting for the Japanese. Basically, he didn't believe that the war had ended and he kept fighting as a guerilla for another thirty years.

How could someone refuse to believe the surrender of their country? How could someone, despite being the last soldier on the island, muster up the courage (is that the word we should be using?) and determination to continue to fight for an additional thirty years. And all this despite flyers being dropped down on the island telling him to come out.

It's really a fascinating story and I could have continued reading about his story. In fact, I would have read the original 2000 page debriefing he gave upon finally surrendering. Unfortunately this book only covers 200+ pages of his life and every page is riveting. You can't stop asking questions but he managed to answer all questions in such a succinct and non-delusional way. Other than the length, another unfortunate thing is that there is no writing about his life post fighting. I want to know about his adjustment to life, his charity work and just everything.

Really, just fascinating. I could read 2000 pages about him, I could write 2000 pages about him and still remain just as mesmerized.

And perhaps my review is more a review of his life and less a review of the book but I know that when I turned the last page, I wanted to start right up again and just couldn't stop churning his life in my mind. ( )

A lively and interesting read. The story moves at a good pace from his boyhood through enlistment, training and deployment to his time in the Philipines jungle and eventual rescue/surrender. The book gives a good insight into the lives of Onoda and the other couple of soldiers with him for a while as they move around the island to avoid the search parties and the local population and continue with their surveillance mission. It is staggering how they manage to convince themselves that the war is still on despite all the evidence to the contrary. It is also interesting how calmly Onoda looks back at those 30 years and can see where they made mistakes in their assumptions and interpretation of the information they were getting. The dedication to the cause was extraordinary. I highly recommend this work. ( )