JAP. CANNIBALISM

Grey River Argus, 15 September 1945, Page 5

JAP. CANNIBALISM

NAURU ISLAND FORCES STARVED. (Rec. 10.15.) SYDNEY, Sept. 14. Japanese forces on Nauru Island became so .desperate for food that they ate their own men who became too ill to fend for themselves. This ghastly story of cold-blooded cannibalism was admitted by LieutenantCommander Akiho Hishimoto, Japanese surrender envoy on board H.M.S. “Diamantina.” Lieutenant - Commander Hishimoto said that food was so short on the island that the Japanese, the natives and the Chinese lived on fish they caught in the sea around Nauru and pumpkins. More than three hundred Japanese died of starvation.

One hundred and thirty Japanese were in hospital and of these forty were too ill to walk. When told that the Japanese must evacuate the whole of the main residential area 1 of the island immediately, LieutenantCommander Hishimoto pleaded for permission to continue fishing as the fish were all they had. upon which) to live. He was told that the problem of feeding the Japanese would be dealt with later and he must obey instructions..