+
upworthy

titanic

Education

How the Titanic's only Japanese passenger was shamed for surviving and won back his honor

Masabumi Hosono was subjected to what the Japanese refer to as "mura hachibu," or social ostracism, after jumping on a lifeboat.

Masabumi Hosono, with his handwritten account of the Titanic tragedy

On the cold, fateful night of April 14, 1912, hundreds were spared a watery demise as they clamored onto the too-few lifeboats that accompanied the sinking Titanic on its one and only disastrous voyage.

Among the survivors was Masabumi Hosono, a 42-year-old civil servant and second-class passenger from Tokyo—and also the only Japanese passenger onboard.

Hosono would escape death that night, but his life would be forever changed, and not for the better. In many ways, he never escaped the Titanic’s curse.

Keep ReadingShow less