When Onoda returned home, he returned to his mother the short sword which was given to him just before he left for Lubang Island. His mother, Tamae received the sword. She reminisced back over the last 30 years. It was a long time ago from his departure until his return, thus, she was not able to come up with anything else to talk about with him. Tamae’s war ended when Onoda returned home.
His idol image was growing bigger and bigger like a popular animal in a zoo. Police officers stayed near his ancestral house to protect him and monitored his activities. So Onoda did not want to go outside so much. When his friends visited their house, he just came out to greet them.
Since he got home, he completely lost his goal in life. He was in a state of lethargy. Before, he did not have enough food and was surrounded by enemies, however, he had a goal to complete. Onoda felt it was really hard to live in the present Japan and he became somewhat bewildered because he was on the wrong side of his 50th. He only knew war and life in the jungle. However, he believed he had to make a living because it was difficult to rely only on the pension that he received from the government.
On such occasions, a publisher offered Onoda a chance to write his autobiography in their weekly magazine. He started writing about Lubang Island and things he experienced for about 30 years so he could earn money on the side. But, there were many mass media people around him so they distracted his concentration, because of that, he hid himself together with the book editor simply to complete his documentary writing for three months. During this period of hiding, the mass media said “Onoda Hiroo was back in jungle again”. And then, when he appeared back in the real world again, the mass media strongly bashed him because they searched for him and could not have an interview with him.
The war for Onoda had not ended; a new war for Onoda had just started. There was a very different Japanese way of living now compared to the last 30 years. He met Japanese who were different in thinking from 30 years ago. In addition, whatever Onoda said, the mass media criticized him. “You should not say such things in this peaceful society,” but, Onoda was not a standard Japanese, but a soldier. He did not want to be outdone by the mass media, so he argued back and fought against the mass media, this caused them to write up articles like: “Hiroo Onoda is a dangerous man. He wants to revive militarism!.” Onoda gradually had some strange feelings about the current Japan.
Before the war, people were taught to risk their lives in their missions to contribute for the country. In contrast, after the war, people do not need to risk their lives in their work. They just work for themselves to earn money; it should be a very good world. However, Onoda was wondering if the current people lived their lives to the fullest without the feeling of impending death. It was totally strange in the current Japan compared to it some 30 years ago snd in his mind there was conflict.
There was one big thing that happened to Onoda, he received charitable donations from the prime minister and the other Japanese. First, he persisted to refuse it, but finally he received it. However, he donated all the money to the Yasukuni Shrine, one of the biggest shrines in Japan, China and Korea still criticize it as the symbol of militarism. So he encountered a firestorm of criticism from the mass media. He felt he was not to be pitied, people who died during the war should be pitied. He came back from the battlefield alive, so he did not need any money, he just thought he had to work. Onoda was downright tired of such a Japan.
During the writing of his book, the editor took Onoda to Hokkaido, it is the northernmost part of Japan. Onoda went around to different places thinking about his future. However, he had a low tolerance for cold temperature so he fainted in the hospital. After returning to Japan from Lubang, his health was affected twice because of the cold temperature.
Onoda was depressed, and wondered if he could survive the bitter winter in his country.