Yoshie Shiratori

Yoshie Shiratori (白鳥 由栄, Shiratori Yoshie; July 31, 1907 – February 24, 1979)^[1] was a Japanese national born in Aomori Prefecture. Shiratori is famous for having escaped from prison four different times. There is a memorial to Shiratori at the Abashiri Prison Museum.

Yoshie Shiratori
白鳥 由栄
Born	(1907-07-31)July 31, 1907 Aomori, Aomori Prefecture, Empire of Japan
Died	February 24, 1979(1979-02-24) (aged 71) Aomori Prefecture, Japan
Known for	Escaping from 4 northern Japanese prisons

There are numerous tales describing his escapes, but some details may be highly exaggerated rather than factual.

Early life

Yoshie Shiratori was born on July 31, 1907, in Aomori, Japan. His father passed away when he was 2 years old, and he was abandoned at a young age by his mother. Initially, he worked in a tofu shop and later as a fisherman to obtain and catch crabs in Russia. After switching jobs several times and finding little success, he turned to gambling and robbery for a living.^[2][3][4]

Prison escapes

Aomori prison break

Aomori Prison

Shiratori was imprisoned at Aomori prison in 1936 for a felony murder charge,^[5] and after studying the guards' routine for months, he escaped by picking his cell lock with the metal wire that was wrapped around the washroom's bucket provided for bathing and escaped through a cracked skylight.^[6][7] Before escaping, he placed floorboards onto his futon to fool the passing guards into thinking he was still asleep.^[8]

Akita prison break

Police recaptured Shiratori after three days whilst he was stealing supplies from a hospital. Sentenced to life in prison for escaping and attempted theft, he was transferred to Akita prison in 1941.^[7]

At Akita prison, Shiratori was placed in a cell specially designed for escape artists, featuring high ceilings, one small skylight, and smooth copper walls. Nevertheless, Shiratori was able to scale the walls, and noticed that the wood holding the window bars was beginning to rot. Every night, he would climb up to loosen the vent, until he finally managed to pry away the wood and open the skylight. Knowing prison staff would be able to hear his footsteps on the roof,^{[better source needed]} Shiratori waited until a stormy night to climb the walls and escape on June 14, 1942. Three months later, he showed up at the house of head guard Kobayashi to ask for help, as he was one of the only people who had shown kindness and respect to Shiratori during his stay in the Akita prison. However, Kobayashi called the police and Shiratori was arrested and sent back to prison.^[6]

Abashiri prison break

Replica of Shiratori's escape from Abashiri Prison at the Abashiri Prison Museum.

During the winter of 1942/43, Shiratori was transferred to Abashiri prison in Northern Hokkaido, the country’s northernmost prison. He was thrown into an open cell exposed to the extreme cold, allowing the guards to beat him down whenever he stood up.^{[better source needed]} Later, he was placed in specially made handcuffs taking nearly two hours to unlock by a specialist who came once per week so that he could bathe.^{[better source needed]} When the guards delivered meals however, he would drip miso soup on the handcuffs and food slot, both of which eventually became corroded due to the salt content of the miso soup, allowing Shiratori to break them.^[6] Then on August 26, 1944, he dislocated both of his shoulders, enabling him to fit out of the narrow food slot in his cell door and escaped the prison, using a wartime blackout as cover.^[9] After living in an abandoned mine deep in the mountains for two years, he descended to a nearby village, and learned of the surrender of Japan. However, he was captured yet again after fatally stabbing a farmer who attacked him after he was caught stealing a tomato from his farm.^{[better source needed]}

Sapporo prison break

For his previous escapes and the farmer's murder, Shiratori was sentenced to death by the Sapporo District Court. At the Sapporo prison, he was placed in a specially designed cell with high ceilings and windows smaller than his head. However, due to the prison guards at Sapporo having so much faith in it that they no longer bothered to handcuff Shiratori,^{[better source needed]} and that they paid so much attention towards his ceiling escapes, they neglected the floors. In 1947, he dug his way out by making a tunnel with some of the miso soup bowls.^[6][7]

Final years

After a year of freedom, it is said^{[by whom?]} that Shiratori was offered a cigarette by a police officer in a park. Emotionally touched by the kindness, Shiratori admitted he was an escaped convict and offered to be turned in. He was arrested and tried once again, but the High Court of Sapporo, having reviewed his case, decided that the farmer's death was accidental and merely a result of acting in self defense. As a result, the court revoked his death sentence, instead sentencing him to 20 years for his escapes, having noted that Shiratori never harmed a single guard during his breakouts. During the trial, Shiratori explained his motive to escape prison, which was the fact that he could not stand the guards' abusive actions towards inmates. After the court officials accepted his testimony; Shiratori's request to be imprisoned in Tokyo was also granted, and he spent 14 years in Fuchu Prison , the first time when the guards treated him nicely, until December, 1961, when he was finally released on parole.^[7]

Later, he returned to Aomori to reunite with his daughter although they were not close. His wife had died while he was in prison. Shiratori lived for another decade working odd jobs to survive. He died after suffering a heart attack in 1979, at the age of 71.^[6][7]

In media

Akira Yoshimura's novel Hagoku is based on Shiratori's life.

The character Yoshitake Shiraishi in the manga Golden Kamuy by Satoru Noda was revealed in an interview with the author to have been based on and named after Shiratori.^{[citation needed]}