Colonel Masao Kusunose, 58, was about to be tried by the Allies. On New Britain, in 1942, he had authorized the bayoneting of 140 Australian prisoners. But the Colonel, according to his peculiar code, was a man of honor; for him there was only one possible course: suicide. He could not commit hara-kiri because his samurai saber had been confiscated by the enemy. Death by drowning or jumping in front of a train would be improper. He decided to end his life by starvation and exposure (the weather was sub-zero).
While Allied authorities hunted him, Kusunose went to the foot of Fujiyama,...
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