The story of the Japanese who survived the Titanic and when he returned to his country he lived a nightmare

110 years ago the Titanic sank, the most famous ship in history that continues to keep its memory alive thanks to books, plays and films, but also to the experiences of the passengers on board who told surprising stories of what happened in those fateful days .

One of the most curious stories is that of Masabumi Hosono, the only Japanese to embark on the largest ocean liner in history in 1912.

In 1910, Hosono worked for the Ministry of Transport in his country and was sent to Russia to work. After completing his assignment, he spent a short stay in London, England, and then arrived in Southampton, where he boarded the Titanic on April 10, 1912 as a second class passenger.

Masabumi Hosono had the money to travel first class, but since only whites were allowed in that category, he had to travel second.

unexpected sinking

On the night of April 14, the tragic accident occurred. The Titanic had received messages from other ships warning of the presence of numerous incoming icebergs. Recommendations that neither the captain, Edward J. Smith, nor the crew heeded.

On April 14 at 11:40 pm the Titanic hit an iceberg. They couldn’t see it. The Imperial ship sank in just two hours and forty minutes, taking the lives of 1,500 people with it.

It was the ship’s lifeboats that played a crucial role and managed to save more than a thousand people. One of them was Masabumi Hosono, who thus became the only Japanese morally condemned in his country for not being sunk with the ocean liner.

lived through hell

Masabumi Hosono was a 42-year-old official at the Japanese Ministry of Transportation and his story became public thanks to his Japanese handwriting after surviving the shipwreck.

In his lyrics he tells how he managed to reach the deck of the ship, after the impact, in the middle of a chaotic situation. Most of the lifeboats were in the water and emergency rockets were exploding in the black sky.

“I thought I would never see my beloved wife and children again, for there was no alternative for me but to share the same fate as the Titanic“he wrote.

As a Japanese, Hosono was well aware of the misfortune he would bring to his family if he returned alive on a boat reserved for women and children.

However, “I found myself looking for and waiting for every possible chance of survival.” And so it was: there were two vacant seats in a lifeboat: the man occupied one and was saved.

Masabumi Hosono was rescued on boat number 13 and was considered a “lucky Japanese” by the media. At first he was interviewed, appeared in many magazines and books, but this provoked critical thinking in the minds of many Japanese who were aware of the “cowardly” act he had committed by not leaving other people’s places.

Thus began a great social pressure from the media: people began to call him vile, fearful, dishonest, immoral, and others even said he should have died.

Due to his behavior he lost his beloved job. They even asked him to commit suicide to restore his honor with Japan.

Against all odds, the Ministry gave him work again until 1939, the year of his death, considering him too precious a person to do without.

Honor

The Hosono family’s honor was not restored until the family went public with Masabumi’s letter to the media following the release of director Titanic’s film. James Cameron, in 1997. The film aroused enormous curiosity in Japan to learn the story of the only Japanese who was aboard the ship and who could survive to tell it.

Later, Western scholars explained why Honoso was so harshly criticized, claiming that he had betrayed the self-sacrificing spirit of samurai or notorious kamikazes during World War II.

at the beginning of the millenniumthe Japanese government has granted official pardon to Masabumi Hosonowhich brought relief to the whole family.

Currently, the man’s story is shameful for Japan itself, for cruelly treating a man who only wanted to see his wife and six children again.