One Thousand Days in Siberia: The Odyssey of a Japanese-American POW

by Iwao Peter Sano

Iwao Peter Sano, a California Nisei, sailed to Japan in 1939 to become an adopted son to his childless aunt and uncle. He was fifteen and knew no Japanese. In the spring of 1945, loyal to his new country, Sano was drafted in the last levy raised in the war. Sent through Korea to join the Kwantung Army in Manchuria, Sano arrived in Hailar, one hundred miles from the Soviet border, as the war was coming to a close. In the confusion that resulted when the war ended, Sano had the bad luck to be in a unit that surrendered to the Russians. It would be nearly three years before he was released to return to Japan.

 

Sano's account of life in the POW and labor camps of Siberia is the story of a little-known part of the great conflagration that was World War II. It is also the poignant memoir of a man who was always an outsider, both as an American youth of Japanese ancestry and then as a young Japanese man whose loyalties were suspect to his new compatriots.

Genres: Nonfiction, History

238 pages, Paperback

First published September 1, 1997

Reviews

[Alstrong · Rating 4 out of 5]

The Soviets didn't treat the Japanese too badly. It wasn't a Gulag or a Nazi concentration camp.

[Jeff Mattison · Rating 4 out of 5]

Such a unique story: an American of Japanese heritage goes to Japan as a teen in 1939 to be adopted by his childless uncle and aunt. He's drafted in 1945 and sent to Manchuria where shortly thereafter the army surrenders to Russian forces who just barely entered the war against Japan. Even though the war is over for all, he and his fellow soldiers are POWs in Siberian labor camps for three years after! He is resigned to his fate and tells the story matter-of-factually recounting with great detail in some instances and coming up with simple yet fair names for those characters whom he can't remember: Grumpy, Red, Sergeant Short, Big Nose, etc. I enjoyed the short episodic chapters and rooted for his safe return.

[Jacob Graves · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is the story of an American farm boy who becomes a Japanese army prisoner of war in the Soviet Union After World War I. Iwoa Peter Sano's story is remarkable and ooriginal to say the least. the wat Iwao tells his story is equaly remarkable. he talks of starving, nearly dying and catching malaria in the Siberian POW camps with humor. It is man vs society because the POWs are being oppressed by the Soviets. The Soviets are the antagonists,(and play good ones at that). 1000 Days in Siberia is a first person view on the struggle of a POW after WWI.

Born in Brawley, California, Sano went to Japan and became the adopted son o his aunt and uncle. In March 1945, he was drafted into the Japanese army and sent to join the Kwantung army in Manchuria. Five months later, when Japanese forces had surrendered to the Soviet army, Sano became a prisoner of war. For nearly three years he labored in Soviet munitions factory, on a collective farm, and in a siberian coal mine.

This is a unique and fascinating account of mixed and divided loyalties, dismay and confusion, sacrifice and salvation mixed in with the hope they will soon be free again. I give this book 4 stars, its one of the better books I have read in the last year. It helps you understand better things that happened after the war in a way of humor and sincerity.

[Joan · Rating 4 out of 5]

Clearly written and very interesting account of a Japanese-American POW in Siberia. This is doubly interesting than even most first-person Japanese soldier accounts because the author moved to Japan only as a high school student and so his perspective is somewhat that of a Japanese soldier and somewhat that of an American, which adds depth and perspective to his storytelling.