The man who always escaped.

Yoshie Shiratori

There is a memorial to Shiratori at the Abashiri Prison Museum. Yoshie Shiratori was a Japanese national born in Aomori Prefecture. Shiratori is famous for having escaped from several different prisons four times, making him an anti-hero in Japanese culture.

Age of Yoshie Shiratori and Family Yoshie Shiratori

He is of Japanese descent. What was Yoshie Shiratori’s age at the time of his death? On July 31, 1907, he was born. He died on February 24, 1979, and was 41 years old at the time. He also had siblings. He had a good education, according to his education. The names of Yoshie Shiratori’s father and mother are unknown.

Facts about Yoshie Shiratori

1. He first worked in a tofu shop and then as a fisherman catching crabs for Russia.
2. Shiratori’s life was the inspiration for Akira Yoshimura’s novel Hagoku.
3. Yoshitake Shiraishi, a character in Satoru Noda’s manga Golden Kamuy, was revealed to be based on and named after Shiratori in an interview with the author.
4. Yoshie Shiratori traveled to Aomori to reunite with his daughter and tell her about his life.
5. After several failed businesses, he became known for his addictive gambling and stealing.
6. Due to his good behavior, he was able to spend his days in Fuchu Prison until 1961, 14 years later.

Yoshie Shiratori Escaped Prison Four Times

He was sentenced to life imprisonment for his escape. He was arrested again.

This time he was given a death sentence and was sent to Sapporo Prison in 1947. Prosecutors were seeking for death penalty for him. The food served there was rice, miso soup and soya sauce. He was now in Abashiri Jail. The salt amount in miso soup oxidizes the iron material thus rusting them and weakening it. For 2 years Yoshie was not found. Kept in summer clothes in harsh winter made his body weak. One of the expertise of Yoshie was he could dislocate his joints however he wants, he then dislocated himself to get out of the small window. He was 41 years old now and was free to move on the streets. A police officer sat beside him and started a conversation. He kept record of everyday patrol time of guards which always had a gap of 15 minutes. Three months later on September 18th, the head guard Kobayashi heard a knock on his door.But Yoshie had already begun his escape by digging below the futon he use to sleep on. The window had wooden cover from outside and were rusting. Aomori Japan,1936 Prisoner Yoshie Shiratori has had enough.

He pour the miso soup on the window nut bolts and his iron handcuffs. He was arrested and taken to court.

Yoshie Shiratori-escaped

Judges considered his plea after the number of times he was escaped. On the night of June 15 , it was raining heavily and he chose that day to escape so no one could hear his footsteps because of the storm. He somehow managed to get success in it. Falsely imprisoned in Aomori, beaten and tortured every night by prison guards. He was back again in the jail.

This time he was sentenced to 3 more years of life imprisonment and was sent to the northern part of Japan were the weather always remained cold. They acknowledged his lawsuit against the prison abuse and his death sentence was revoked and reduced to 20 years. After 6 months finally the nut bolts started to drop off and the window could now be broken. In Japan, cigarette was one of costly item and seeing this gesture from police man he cried. He was forced to confess to a murder he did not commit. He freed himself from the handcuffs. Shiratori said he didn’t mind staying in the prison but the amount of abuse he faced was the only reason to escape. He wanted to file a lawsuit on Japanese Prison for corruption and the abuse they had done to him. He was back to Aomori. While passing through a Tomato farm, he plucked a tomato and ate it. Meanwhile, the police man offered him a cigarette. The guards would force him for manual labor and made him sleep on concrete floor in winters. He climbed up the slippery wall and made it to the window. He was kept in a confined room whose ceiling were very high, the wall were made slippery so no one could climb to the one window up above. In the process of self defense he killed the farmer. So, every night he would climb the wall try to move the rusting window and make it lose. He knew he do not have enough time before the guards return, so he picked every lock in his way and made his escape.Three days later he was caught again stealing supplies from a hospital. It was 1945 and America had won the war against Japan. He went to a local shop and read the newspaper. While Yoshie was in toilet, Kobayashi called the police. He was treated well inside the prison. The windows were made small so a person could not pass through it.Yoshie always made sure to save some miso soup. In that time he would pull out a metal wire which he got from bathhouse and started to pick the lock. He was handcuffed with iron rings which required two metal specialist to open. To his surprise it was Yoshie Shiratori he let him in, fed him and heard to everything he had to say. He ran for 50 days towards Aomori City to meet his family. He wanted Kobayashi’s help to testify against the prison as he was only the one who treated Shiratori with respect. But there were more locks ahead. Yoshie always looked at the ceiling thinking of a plan to escape again. He was abused even worse there than Aomori. They also handcuffed Shiratori all the time. The police man did not know who Yoshie Shiratori was. He confessed who he was. Away from his wife and daughter he was desperate to make a move. In 1942, he was transferred to Akita jail in Akita City. Surprisingly, he was also a good climber. He ran off and sat on a bench nearby. The Americans came to know about his abilities to escape the jail thus was kept under 24 hour surveillance with 6 guards always watching him. He was a free man now. The head guard, Kobayashi felt pity for him and checked up on him time to time.On the stormy night of June 15, one of the guards on patrol duty looked inside the Shiratori’s cell and was shocked to see the cell empty. Yoshie was scared but he kept his calm. In 1961 he was finally a free man who had spent 25 years of his life escaping the prison. He had isolated himself in a cave and hunted animals to survive. Yoshie thought of escaping the prison but it wasn’t easy to escape. What people did not know about him was he was a expert lock picker. Well that’s what the guards thought. The farmer saw this and attacked him. Yoshie Shiratori had escaped again. When he did not wake , they went inside the jail only to find the wooden slates.

Yoshie had escaped again. Out of curiosity, he came out of the cave after 2 years and saw English people everywhere. One day he overslept and guards kept on asking him to get up. He went to meet his family, unfortunately only his daughter was alive.