Masabumi Hosono

Masabumi Hosono
Masabumi Hosono, 1912
Born	(1870-10-15)15 October 1870 Japan
Died	14 March 1939(1939-03-14) (aged 68) Japan

Masabumi Hosono (細野 正文, Hosono Masabumi^?, 15 October 1870 – 14 March 1939) was a Japanese civil servant. He was the only Japanese passenger on the RMS Titanic's disastrous maiden voyage. He survived the ship's sinking on 15 April 1912 but found himself condemned and ostracised by the Japanese public, press, and government for his decision to save himself rather than go down with the ship.

The 41-year-old Hosono was a civil servant working for the Japanese Ministry of Transport. He had been sent in 1910 to imperial Russia to research the Russian state railway system. His journey back to Japan took him first to London, where he stayed for a short time, then to Southampton where he boarded Titanic on 10 April 1912 as a second class passenger.

During the night of 14/15 April he was awakened by a steward. However, he was blocked from going to Titanic's boat deck, from which lifeboats were already being launched, as a crewman assumed that he was a third class passenger. He eventually made his way past the obstruction and made his way to the boat deck, where he saw with alarm that emergency flares were being fired: "All the while flares signalling emergency were being shot into the air ceaselessly, and hideous blue flashes and noises were simply terrifying. Somehow I could in no way dispel the feeling of utter dread and desolation."

Hosono saw four lifeboats being launched and contemplated the prospect of an imminent death. He was "deep in desolate thought that I would no more be able to see my beloved wife and children, since there was no alternative for me than to share the same destiny as the Titanic". As the number of lifeboats remaining diminished rapidly, "I tried to prepare myself for the last moment with no agitation, making up my mind not to leave anything disgraceful as a Japanese. But still I found myself looking for and waiting for any possible chance for survival."

As he watched lifeboat 10 being loaded, an officer shouted, "Room for two more", and a man jumped aboard. Hosono saw this and, as he later put it, "the example of the first man making a jump led me to take this last chance."