Hermit who escaped civilization to live naked on a desert island is forced to return to Japan by authorities after 29 YEARS

  • 82-year-old Masafumi Nagasaki 'escaped' civilisation in 1989 for life of solitude
  • He stayed on rarely visited Sotobanari island — even fishermen don't go there 
  • But Japanese authorities moved him back to mainland after he was found 'weak'
  • Nagasaki can't return to the island and lives 60km away in a house in the city

By Jordan Barnes For Mailonline

Published: 18:59 BST, 25 June 2018 | Updated: 09:39 BST, 26 June 2018

Japanese authorities denied a man the chance his wish to die a castaway on an island he called home for three decades.

Masafumi Nagasaki was the only inhabitant of the kilometre-wide Sotobanari island but was forced to return to civilisation after being found unwell by police.

He lived in solitude since 1989 and became known as the 'naked hermit' after being discovered by a traveller who writes about castaways. 

Masafumi Nagasaki has been forced to return to mainland Japan after being the sole inhabitant of an island for almost three decades

Masafumi Nagasaki has been forced to return to mainland Japan after being the sole inhabitant of an island for almost three decades

The 'naked hermit' shunned mainstream society and set up base on Sotobanari island in 1989

The 'naked hermit' shunned mainstream society and set up base on Sotobanari island in 1989

Nagasaki, 82, proudly lived in the buff after a typhoon washed away his clothes

Nagasaki, 82, proudly lived in the buff after a typhoon washed away his clothes

Alvaro Cerezo told news.com.au Nagasaki was evicted after someone found him on the island looking 'weak'.

Police were called and he has been taken to live in a government house 60km away in Ishigaki city.

Cerezo added his health is okay and he 'probably only had the flu' when he was found, remarking that Nagasaki's island life is 'over' as he isn't allowed to return.

Previously part of the entertainment industry, Nagasaki opted for a life of rice cakes and water

Previously part of the entertainment industry, Nagasaki opted for a life of rice cakes and water

The former entertainment worker walks through the jungle in just slippers and headdress

The former entertainment worker walks through the jungle in just slippers and headdress

he has been moved 60km away to Ishigaki and is not allowed to return to Sotobanari

he has been moved 60km away to Ishigaki and is not allowed to return to Sotobanari

Nagasaki's story first came to light in 2012. 

He shunned mainstream society in the early nineties to set up base on the little island of Sotobanari where there is no running water.

The remote spot, which is just a kilometre wide, is in Japan's tropical Okinawa prefecture and located closer to Taiwan than Tokyo.

The currents that surround the kidney-shaped island are so dangerous local fisherman rarely cast nets in the area. 

Previously he worked in the entertainment industry before 'retiring' from civilisation.

The kidney-shaped island is in Japan's tropical Okinawa prefecture and located near Taiwan

The kidney-shaped island is in Japan's tropical Okinawa prefecture and located near Taiwan

'I don't do what society tells me, but I do follow the rules of the natural world' says Nagasaki

'I don't do what society tells me, but I do follow the rules of the natural world' says Nagasaki

'I don't do what society tells me, but I do follow the rules of the natural world. You can't beat nature so you just have to obey it completely,' he said.

'That's what I learned when I came here, and that's probably why I get by so well.'

He would travel to a nearby island using money sent from his family to get water and his staple food of rice cakes, which he would boil four or five times a day.

Water for bathing and shaving comes from rain caught in a system of battered cooking pots.

Seventy-six-year-old naked hermit Masafumi Nagasaki smokes on the beach on Sotobanari
The 82-year-old naked hermit sits at table made from polystyrene box as he eats a food

Nagasaki smokes a cigarette at his eating place where (right) he is seen enjoying a meal on a makeshift polystyrene table

Just a year into his stay his clothes were washed away in a typhoon. 

'Walking around naked doesn't really fit in with normal society, but here on the island it feels right, it is like a uniform.'

He would spend each day stretching in the sun, cleaning his camp and trying to avoid insect bites.  

The island was where he wanted to be his final resting place.

'Finding a place to die is an important thing to do, and I've decided here is the place for me,' he said.

'It hadn't really occurred to me before how important it is to choose the place of your death, like whether it's in a hospital or at home with family by your side. 

'But to die here, surrounded by nature — you just can't beat it, can you?'

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