Voting Station

Shoichi Yokoi

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Military Personnel

The Resume

    (March 31, 1915-September 22, 1997)
    Born in Saori, Aichi, Japan
    Sergeant with the Imperial Japanese Army during World War II
    Assigned to Guam and hid in its jungle after U.S. troops captured the island (1944)
    Emerged 28 years later (January 24, 1972) and informed the war ended in 1945
    Wrote the bestselling survival book 'The Last Japanese Soldier: Corporal Yokoi's 28 Incredible Years in the Guam Jungle'
    Subject of the 1977 documentary 'Yokoi and His Twenty-Eight Years of Secret Life on Guam'
    Died of a heart attack at age 82

Why he might be annoying:

    Though leaflets were routinely air dropped stating the war had ended he refused to believe them.
    Two villagers surprised and captured him - one wanted to kill him because another army man killed his niece.
    He carried with him a rusted rifle long since rendered useless.
    His record was eclipsed when Hiroo Onoda emerged from a Philippines jungle in 1974 after 29 years in hiding.
    His November 1972 marriage was an arranged one.
    He ran for a seat in Japan's upper house of parliament in 1974 and lost.

Why he might not be annoying:

    A tailor by trade he had made a shirt from the bark of a tree and burlap pants.
    His meals consisted of nuts, berries, frogs, snails and rats.
    Upon arriving in Japan he uttered the phrase 'It is with much embarrassment that I have returned alive' and caught the world's imagination.
    After 28 years he received back pay equivalent of $300 and a tiny pension ('gee, thanks').
    He became a regular TV commentator on survival skills and austere living.

Credit: Scar Tactics


Featured in the following Annoying Collections:

Year In Review:

    In 2023, Out of 2 Votes: 100% Annoying
    In 2022, Out of 5 Votes: 80.0% Annoying
    In 2021, Out of 8 Votes: 75.00% Annoying
    In 2020, Out of 2 Votes: 50.0% Annoying
    In 2018, Out of 1 Votes: 0% Annoying
    In 2017, Out of 8 Votes: 50.0% Annoying
    In 2016, Out of 12 Votes: 50.0% Annoying
    In 2015, Out of 70 Votes: 57.14% Annoying
    In 2014, Out of 19 Votes: 52.63% Annoying
    In 2013, Out of 26 Votes: 53.85% Annoying
    In 2012, Out of 14 Votes: 71.43% Annoying
    In 2011, Out of 14 Votes: 57.14% Annoying
    In 2010, Out of 16 Votes: 50.0% Annoying
    In 2009, Out of 32 Votes: 53.12% Annoying
    In 2008, Out of 47 Votes: 53.19% Annoying
    In 2007, Out of 42 Votes: 45.24% Annoying