80 Years On: 102-Year-Old Recalls Secret Training for Guerrilla Warfare

   Akashi, Hyogo Pref., Aug. 14 (Jiji Press)--A 102-year-old Japanese man has voiced strong opposition to war, recounting his experience of undergoing training for guerrilla warfare at a secret school to prepare for a possible battle in mainland Japan toward the end of World War II.
   Satoshi Ito received infiltration, sabotage and other forms of training for three months at the Futamata branch of the now-defunct Imperial Japanese Army's Nakano school. The branch was located in present-day Tenryu Ward in the city of Hamamatsu, Shizuoka Prefecture, central Japan.
   "I was a pawn of the military (like many others)," Ito, who now lives in the city of Akashi, Hyogo Prefecture, western Japan, recalled. "We must never engage in a foolish war."
   In January 1943, Ito, who was a middle school teacher, passed the conscription exam. The following year, he entered the army's cavalry school in what is now the city of Funabashi, Chiba Prefecture, east of Tokyo, to train future officers.
   Around July 1944, a supervising officer suddenly told Ito to go to a meeting room, where he met with several interviewers in military uniform, who asked him whether he would be able to cut ties with his family.

(2025/08/14-08:30)

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