Former Imperial Japanese Navy surgeon Kimiaki Fukuhara, who examined the corpse of Adm. Isoroku Yamamoto on Bougainville Island in April 1943, died Saturday of a ruptured abdominal aneurysm at a Tokyo hospital, his family said Sunday. He was 84.
Fukuhara was attached to the No. 1 Japanese troop stationed in Buin, Bougainville, and conducted the inquest into Yamamoto's death after his plane was shot down by the United States on April 18, 1943, over the Solomon Islands after leaving Rabaul.
Yamamoto, commander in chief of the Combined Fleet of Japan, is known for masterminding Japan's attack on Pearl Harbor in December 1941. A state funeral was held for him in Tokyo on June 5, 1943. Yamamoto's death was seen as a turning point in Japan's campaign in World War II.
Fukuhara was a graduate of Chiba University and a native of Hiroshima Prefecture.