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My grandfather was POW at Changi for four years. He saw many of his friends die; many tragically just after the war when they rashly ate too much of the wrong thing. During his captivity his family didn't know whether he was dead or alive. He never knowingly bought a Japanese product. He never spoke about his experience much.

I'd like to think things would have been a lot better had he had the opportunity to meet some genuinely apologetic Japanese.



What do you mean by "ate too much of the wrong thing"?


After a period of malnutrition, you need to start taking small amounts of relatively low-calorie food and building up from there. It is a well-known phenomenon that eating too much calorie-packed food can be fatal. In his book The Forgotten Highlander, Alistair Urquhart records the same thing happening on the ship which transported former POWs home.


Oh wow, that is tragic. I was aware that, after being starved, you shouldn't gorge yourself, but I didn't know you could die from eating even normal portions... Thank you.


Big problem during wars. Much of my grandfather's Chinese army group in WWII died outside of fighting from this.



That explains a lot, thank you.




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