Mutsuhiro Watanabe

Mutsuhiro Watanabe (渡辺むつひろ,born circa 1918 - died April 2003), POW given nickname, "The Bird", was an Imperial Japanese Army sergeant in World War II who served at POW camps in Ōfuna, Naoetsu (present day Jōetsu, Niigata), and Mitsushima (present day Hiraoka). Watanabe was classified as a Class-A war criminal following the war for his abuse of prisoners of war (POWs) held by the Japanese military.

Louis Zamperini
Watanabe took a special interest in American track star Louis Zamperini. Zamperini was a legend to the villagers of Ofuna, Japan, and Watanabe felt that Zamperini challenged his authority for that reason. Once he made Zamperini hold a heavy wooden log over his head for over 37 minutes, at the end of which Watanabe punched him in the stomach. Watanabe openly admitted getting a sexual thrill from beating prisoners. Watanabe had unceasing mood swings. One minute he would be beating a prisoner, and the next he would be handing them fistfuls of candy and cigarettes. Zamperini was transferred to Naoetsu, a beautiful snowy mountainous region. Excited at the prospect of being free of "The Bird," his hopes were crushed when he found out that Watanabe had also been transferred to Naoetsu. In 1945, General Douglas MacArthur included Watanabe as number 23 on his list of the 40 most wanted war criminals in Japan. Watanabe went into hiding for seven years and was never prosecuted, emerging back into society only after war crimes prosecutions were stopped and the U.S. Occupation of Japan was ending. During his time in hiding, Watanabe, worked on a farm and in a small grocery store; he also visited his mother at a restaurant every few years to let her know he was alive. In 1956, the Japanese literary magazine Bungeishunjū published an interview with Watanabe titled "I do not want to be punished by America."

Late Life
Following the Occupation, Watanabe became a life insurance salesman and was reportedly wealthy, owning a $1.5 million apartment in Tokyo and a vacation condominium on the Gold Coast of Australia.

Prior to the 1998 Winter Olympics in Nagano, the CBS News program 60 Minutes interviewed Watanabe at the Hotel Okura in Tokyo as part of a feature on Zamperini, a Watanabe's former prisoner who was returning to carry the Olympic Flame torch through Naoetsu en route to Nagano. Watanabe did not apologize in the interview, but acknowledged beating and kicking prisoners. "I wasn't given military orders. Because of my own personal feelings, I treated the prisoners strictly as enemies of Japan." Zamperini forgave Watanabe and wanted to meet with him, but Watanabe declined the meeting, probably fearful of repercussions after some accusatory questions in the earlier press interviews.

Watanabe died in April 2003.

Watanabe's abuses are detailed in the Laura Hillenbrand's book about Zamperini titled Unbroken: A World War II Story of Survival, Resilience, and Redemption.