Before the winter of September 1974, Onoda was invited to the Frankfurt Book Fair in Germany. His autobiography was translated into English and was introduced there. Since he went to Europe, he arranged travel plans to go to Brazil. His second brother immigrated to Brazil already and he often asked him to go there for sightseeing.
After he attended the fair, he visited Paris, Madrid and the Alps for sightseeing and then left for San Pauro, Brazil. Onoda was a well-known person in Brazil so when he appeared from the airplane, a lot of reporters immediately surrounded him and interviewed him. He attracted the unwelcome attention from Mass media. They brought annoying trouble to him. He went to see the biggest carnival in Rio de Janeiro and was invited to the stage by chance. So his photo dancing cheek-to-cheek with a nearly naked lady was sent to Japan. It gave the wrong impression to Japanese who never danced with such sexy ladies in a revealing dress. He was criticized as it was considered disgraceful and indecent behavior.
Hiroo’s brother hid him in his friend’s house. Hiroo walked in the wilderness, swam in the sea and went over the mountain to hang out around the port. There was freedom, silence and peace. He also toured stock farms run by Mr. Yoshio, a famous Japanese in Brazil with many businesses especially running cow farms. His cows won the championship in cattle competitions. There were many cows in the big farm stretching ahead of the horizon. As Hiroo talked about stock farming with him, he was getting interested in such a business.
After Onoda returned home from Lubang Island in the Philippines, Onoda’s mind had been restless and stressed due to lots of arguments with the mass media who chased after him with curious eyes, the reporters chased after him like the paparazzi. He was not an ordinary man, but a soldier. In addition, he was very competitive in character and was desperate to win so he argued with them always, therefore, he came to think of having an arm’s length relationship with Japanese society and war issues.
After World War II, over 30.000 Japanese immigrated to Brazil with hopes to have a good life. The place was thought to be warm throughout the year and they could harvest lots of crops from the huge land mass. His elder brother did not fit into Japanese society after the war so he immigrated to Brazil 20 years ago. Thus, Onoda got along with his brother.
Onoda did not want to have a burdensome relationship, he was suffering in Japan and believed there was no place to live in the present Japan. Brazil is located on the other side of the world; it’s the farthest distance from Japanese society. He thought that raising farm animals was the complete opposite of his previous job as a soldier where he killed people.
He took the advice from his elder brother about the cow farm business; from there, his brother looked for a good piece of land for him. Accidentally, the Japanese International Cooperation Agency learnedabout his plan so they introduced two plot of land to Onoda: Sao Paulo and Matto Grosso. The plan for Sao Paulo was rejected because there was a plan to construct a factory near the land so it would have a potential risk of water pollution. Hiroo’s brother did a geological survey of the land of Matto Grosso and then consulted Mr. Yoshio who gave advice to them and promised his cooperation. Hiroo was deeply moved by them and made a decision to run his business in Brazil.
Onoda announced his immigration to Brazil; then headed to the United States for the promotion of his autobiography. He was interviewed on TV, radio programs and the other reporters over 120 times for 20 days. They understood many of his explanations why he stayed in the jungle for 30 years. In contrast, he wondered why many Japanese could not do the same. Some of them checked every word of text in his autobiography and criticized him. His last stop was in Hawaii, and finally he returned to Japan on Jan 31, 1975.
Onoda explained his immigration to his friends and also his family members. Tanejiro, his father just heard that silently. Tamae, his mother said that, “It was a desire to see my son’s face forever. But, you had a hardest life for a long time so I am letting you go. I am too old to see you in this world again. But, I believe I can see you in the world after.” Tamae encouraged his son to go to Brazil without hesitation.
Onoda felt a lump in his throat. He caused her worry for the past 30 years. His reported death made her sad and the news about his existence made her hopeful but, she had believed Onoda was still alive for the 30 years he was missing.
He swore his success in his own business in Brazil. Because he thought he had to show evidence that he had the capability to live by himself against his Japanese haters who said “Hiroo did not join in the war” or “Hiroo lived on the island with his girlfriend for 30 years and appeared again while trying to look cool”.
Onoda’s family members, relatives and friends held a party for him before his departure. Onoda thought where his true hometown really was. He grew up until his graduation of junior school in Japan for 16 years and then he worked in China to earn money as a merchant for 4 and half years. Next, he fought as a soldier in the Philippines for about 30 years and finally he moved to Brazil as a farmer.
Onoda had to do a very important thing before leaving Japan. He needed to visit the Welfare Minister to get Kozuka’s rifle with the intention of giving it back to Kozuka’s family. This rifle was allowed to be brought back to Japan with the permission from the former president Marcos. He passed the rifle to Kozuka’s father. The father grabbed the gun and shouted his son’s name and broke down while crying. He visited Cpl. Shoichi Shimada’s grave as well. Onoda said his goodbyes to his deceased comrades and thought he would work with his full power for them.
On April 6 1975, he left Japan. Onoda’s new challenge started from an undeveloped region in Brazil when he was 53 years old.
