71: Hiroo Onoda Fights a Non-Existent War (Part 2)

An Old Timey Podcast

True Crime, History, Comedy

4.9 • 1.3K Ratings

🗓️ 10 September 2025

⏱️ 96 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

World War II was over. (Really. Truly.) But a group of Japanese soldiers stationed on Lubang Island in the Philippines weren’t convinced. They didn’t believe that Japan had surrendered. So they kept fighting. They terrorized locals. They evaded capture. Over the course of several years, Japanese officials made multiple attempts to convince the soldiers that the war had ended. Each time, Hiroo Onoda dismissed those attempts as enemy propaganda.

Remember, kids, history hoes always cite their sources! For this episode, Norm pulled from:

Allyra Crowdfunding. “Donation Page by Searching For Onoda.” https://searchingforonodadoc.allyrafundraising.com/campaigns/9769.

“Bushido and Japanese Atrocities in World War II.” Michael Fassbender, May 2, 2015. https://michaeltfassbender.com/nonfiction/the-world-wars/big-picture/bushido-and-japanese-atrocities-in-world-war-ii/.

“Domitable Myth: Three Depictions of Japanese Holdout Soldier Hiroo Onoda | International Documentary Association.” May 17, 2023. https://www.documentary.org/online-feature/domitable-myth-three-depictions-japanese-holdout-soldier-hiroo-onoda.

New York Times. “Hiroo Onoda, Soldier Who Hid in Jungle for Decades, Dies at 91” March 28, 2022. https://www.nytimes.com/2014/01/18/world/asia/hiroo-onoda-imperial-japanese-army-officer-dies-at-91.html.

Onoda, Hiroo. No Surrender: My Thirty-Year War. Naval Institute Press, 1999.

“Onoda: The Man Who Hid in the Jungle for 30 Years.” April 14, 2022. https://www.bbc.com/culture/article/20220413-onoda-the-man-who-hid-in-the-jungle-for-30-years.

Sims, Watson. “You’re a Better Man, Hiroo.” Battle Creek Enquirer, March 17, 1974.

The Record (New Jersey). “‘I Have Done My Best,’ Japanese Holdout Says.” March 11, 1974.

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Transcript

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0:00.0	Hear ye, hear ye.
0:02.6	You are listening to an old-timey podcast.
0:05.7	I'm Norman Caruso.
0:06.8	And I'm Kristen Caruso.
0:08.5	And on this episode, it's part two of my series on Hiro Onoda, the Japanese soldier who wouldn't surrender.
0:14.7	Boy, he just kept on keeping on, didn't he?
0:17.5	Norm, do you have a real fun, peppy episode for us today?
0:21.6	Hmm. Not quite.
0:23.6	Sorry.
0:24.6	You know, I tells it like it is.
0:28.6	Okay.
0:29.6	This is the story.
0:30.6	All right.
0:31.6	I already apologized in part one for bringing another bummer of a story.
0:35.6	Uh-huh.
0:36.6	But, you know, we gotta keep it fun and positive. As we always say before we record every episode. Okay, for real folks, we do that. It's really nerdy. Or is it cool? No, it's like a mantra. You got to pump yourself up, you know? Uh-huh, uh-huh. You know, you want to be the very best like no one ever was what are you
0:54.8	quoting i don't know what you're quoting what i won't say hey christin please let the listeners
1:02.0	know that you have a new hairstyle new color everyone if you're watching the video version you would
1:09.7	know good segue to the Patreon.
1:11.9	Wow. Wow. Norm, that was a brilliant plug. Hey, everyone, I have a new hair color. That might not seem like a big deal to you. But to me, it's brand new. It's brand spanking new, fresh out of the package. I don't know. I got it done in a salon, but you know what I mean.
1:33.5	And I'm in that phase where every time I look in the mirror, I'm like, who put this wig on me?
1:36.9	I did post about it on Instagram, showed it off.
	...

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