The passbook had a name written in Japanese kanji characters that would likely read 'Chojiro Hibi' as well as an address where the family used to live.Īlthough one of the three kanji in his first name was different from his actual name, Chojiro used the same kanji as in the passbook when signing a postcard to Kimijiro and may have commonly penned his name in this way, his relatives said. Kimijiro Hibi holding a portrait of his elder brother, Chojiro, in Chiba Prefecture on June 20, 2021. One of Kimijiro's sons recently found out about the bankbook through a Kyodo News article published more than a year ago about wartime relics kept by the society. Word of the passbook reached the Hibi family amid renewed efforts to identify the owner.

Chojiro's remains are among those yet to be found. The United States returned Iwoto to Japanese sovereignty in 1968 and efforts to retrieve the remains of the Japanese war dead are still under way. About 22,000 Japanese soldiers and 7,000 U.S. The fighting on the Pacific island continued for around a month after U.S. 'War denies human dignity and brings harm to many people.' 'I had thought that everything had turned to ashes,' Hibi's younger brother Kimijiro, 93, who lives in Chiba Prefecture, told Kyodo News. Hibi, in his early 20s, died in the battle on what is now called Iwoto Island, the site of one of the most grueling battles of World War II. (Photo courtesy of Japan-America Society of Washington DC)(Kyodo)īut the item was only recently confirmed to have been owned by Chojiro Hibi, who lived in Yokohama, southwest of Tokyo. Photo shows the Chojiro Hibi's passbook, kept as a World War II relic for years by the Japan-America Society of Washington DC.

Iwo jima cave remains found