Masafumi Nagasaki, a Japanese castaway who spent 29 years on a barren island before being compelled to leave by the government of Japan, returned to his dream home on June 16 for a farewell visit.
The Sotobanari island, which is only a kilometer wide and is part of the Okinawa archipelago close to Taiwan, was home to Japan’s “naked island hermit” for almost three decades.
The 87-year-old is claimed to have worked as a photographer before deciding to leave the mainland and live on the island by himself.
When a local fisherman spotted him in 2018 laying on the sand nearly comatose, his story was made public.
Authorities claimed he appeared sickly and feeble when they first saw him, and the Japanese government had to send him back to civilisation.
He made the decision to return home on June 16 after spending the previous four years in the city of Ishigaki.
However, the team in charge of getting him back advised his stay must be brief because he is no longer able to care for himself.
Alvaro Cerezo, a Spanish explorer who records island castaways but chose to conceal Nagasaki’s life in order to safeguard his privacy, had already found the island hermit.
As of 2018, Nagasaki failed to fit into contemporary life in Ishigaki.
He struggled to establish acquaintances after spending four years away from society because of his extended period of solitude.
Few people, according to Cerezo, “could either understand his unconventional way of life or his strong desire to live nude on a desert island” in a society as traditional as that of the Japanese.
Because of this, most residents of his area regarded him with scorn and a modicum of terror.
Due to Covid-19, he has also spent a lot of time alone, often in a small room rather than on the island where he had spent the previous 29 years.
He would not have been susceptible to the sickness during the pandemic if he had been residing there as opposed to being compelled to return to a city.
Nagasaki spent the majority of his time in his chamber during his four years in society, secluded from the outside world.
Since it was the only area where he could live without wearing clothes and feel free like he did for the previous 29 years, Cerezo continued, “His tiny room became like his desert island where he could isolate himself.”
He spent his time picking up trash from the streets in an effort to improve his surroundings after becoming horrified by the filth and pollution in the city.
Having left the world behind before they were invented, he was unable to use electronic devices like cell phones, although Cerezo’s business would occasionally receive calls at odd hours from Nagasaki, dialing from the only remaining phone booth in the city.
He would express his longing for his “wonderful old life” on the island, which was “now simply part of his distant memories,” to them.
He chose to go back to his island after four years of attempting to fit in, with the aid of Cerezo, the Spanish explorer who had first found him.
Nagasaki sobbed when Cerezo’s business, Docastaway, informed him that he would be able to come back.
‘It was easy to persuade the authorities. As long as Nagasaki’s health was good, they didn’t care, according to Cerezo. Naturally, we didn’t bring up his intention to remain on the island indefinitely until his death. We merely requested that he be allowed to remain there for a while.
The real-life “Robinson Crusoe” has now resumed his previous way of life, eschewing civilization once more.
When he reached the shore, he raised his hands in the air.
He had promised them, “I will guard this island as long as I am alive.” Whatever is necessary.
He didn’t take long to notice the changes the island had undergone while he was away. He had lived there for almost three decades and was familiar with every rock and twig.
When he had previously lived there, Nagasaki would use money supplied by his family to buy water and rice cakes, his primary diet, which he would cook four or five times per day.
He claimed that he long before informed his family of his plan to pass away on the island, and they were supportive of it.
I don’t follow social conventions, but I do adhere to the laws of nature. You must entirely obey nature because you cannot overcome it, he remarked.
That’s what I discovered when I arrived here, and it’s probably the reason I manage to survive so well.
He would use a system of battered frying pots to collect rainwater for bathing and shaving.
Local fishermen hardly ever cast their nets in the area because of the treacherous currents that surround the kidney-shaped island.
His clothing was lost in a cyclone just a year into his stay.
Although walking around naked doesn’t exactly blend in with normal society, on the island it feels natural and almost uniform.
Each day he would stretch in the sun, tidy his camp, and attempt to stay away from bug bites.
The hermit returned to the island dressed, but as soon as he reached the shore, he stripped off his clothing and raised his hands in the air.
On the island, he claimed, he never once felt lonely or bored.
Nothing depressing can occur here. I once came across a dead bird in the forest. Then, I felt sympathy. Just that. But here, I’ve never felt depressed. If I feel like that, I cannot survive here. Such sentiments of romance…
Here, things are closer to reality. If I don’t follow the laws of nature, I can’t survive.
Lighters, which he described as the most practical instrument from civilization, were what he said he missed the most.
He responded that money and religion are “killing the earth” when asked what the worst aspects of civilisation are.
But risks do exist on the island. Vipers, which are capable of administering a poison that would definitely kill him, he claimed used to frequently visit him in his tent. However, he claims to have accepted death and does not worry about the snakes.
He said, “I already accepted this kind of danger when I chose to be on this island. Animals only attack in order to survive. A mosquito, for instance, bites to reproduce.
Animals, however, do not intentionally harm people. Only humans engage in selfish behavior, acting solely for their own benefit. I’m liberated on this island from all of that.
He claimed that after some time on the island, he started to feel bad about eating animals and gave up eating fish and turtle eggs.
I’ve witnessed those little turtles hatching and making their way to the water, he said. I always get goosebumps when I see that.
He still wants the island to serve as his final resting place despite having witnessed how the modern world has evolved.
According to Cerezo, he was the longest-living voluntarily castaway in history.
He was set to fulfill his dream after returning to the island.
Finding a place to pass away is a crucial task, and I’ve determined that this is the place for me, he stated.
He claimed that he wanted to perish in a hurricane so that no one will attempt to save him. He said, “I don’t want to bother anyone in death.”
The hermit rejects the idea of life after death, referring to it as the “full finish” and asserting that “nothing more perfect” exists.
“I never really thought about how significant it is to chose the place of your death, like whether it’s at home with family by your side or in a hospital,” the person said.
The 87-year-old claimed that he has always been a happy person, even before arriving on the island, and that he only ended there in paradise by happenstance.
He grinned and added, “I can find everything I need right here.” I don’t require anything more.
Cerezo quickly saw, however, that the elderly hermit had lost the ability to care for himself after only a few hours with him.
While they were watching, he struggled to get dressed and it took him four hours to boil some rice and eggs.
He had lost a lot of the power and instincts he had used to rely on four years before due to being imprisoned in the city.
They claimed he had lost faith in his skills and appeared anxious about their impending departure.
Cerezo remarked that “he was ultimately not going to be able to return to nature as he had wished.”
Before he accompanied them back to the city, he requested Cerezo and the other members of the group to stay with him on the island for a few more days.
According to the New York Post, Nagasaki has now made his way back to Ishigaki, Japan, where he is now residing in a government-funded room.
Fortunately, Nagasaki wasn’t sorry to go. He seems content that he had the chance to say “Farewell” to his island,” stated Cerezo.
“Maybe in a few years, if he still wishes to spend his final days at Sotobarani Island, and believes his time is perfect and he is ready to leave this world, we will be there to support him without a doubt,” the man said.