What Happened to the only Japanese passenger on the Titanic?
Masabumi Hosono, was the only
Japanese passenger on the RMS Titanic.
As a civil servant working for the Japanese Ministry of Transport,
He researched Imperial Russia's railway system in
1910.
His journey back to Japan then took him to Britain.
After staying in London for a time, he went to South Hampton,
where he boarded the RMS Titanic on April 10th 1912
in second class.
During the disaster, as the ship was sinking after
hitting an iceberg, passengers began the few lifeboats
to evacuate.
Hosono was asleep when the crash happened,
but awoke when a Stewardess knocked on his cabin and told him
a life jacket.
When he tried to go to the top deck where the lifeboats were,
he was blocked by a crewman, who assumed he was a third class passenger.
But eventually he slipped passed,
and reached the top deck.
"All the while flares were signalling emergency were
being shot into the air ceaselessly, and hideous blue flashes and
noises were simply terrifying. Somehow I could
in no way dispel the feeling of utter dread and desolation"
Hosono wrote.
He found a lifeboat, when an officer shouted "Room for two more!"
And survived the Titanic disaster.
When he returned to Japan, Hosono
instead of being cheered was disgraced by
U.S. and Japanese press, because he did not adhere to the
Women and children first rule. He was fired from his job
and portrayed to the media, as dishonorable coward
who pushed other passengers out of the way to reach the lifeboats seats.
Some newspapers even wrote stories about Hosono
disguising himself as a woman to get on a lifeboat,
and said that he should commit suicide.
He would be ostracized for the rest of his life in Japan
in what is known as 'Mura Hachibu', something that is still found
today, or a co-worker who has made a grievous error,
or shown a lack of loyalty is avoided by
his or her peers.
Hosono died of natural causes on March 14th
1939, at 68 years old.
After his death, his granddaughter found his diary
and published it.
In it, he said how he did not want to do anything disgraceful
As a Japanese, which is seen as his redemption
Bringing Honor back to the Hosono family.
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