Why Japan? Because during World War I, Japan was against Britain, and this Indian freedom fighter saw a chance.
In 'Avengers: Endgame', the Avengers said, “Whatever it takes," which meant they would do whatever it took to defeat Thanos. But long before the MCU, India’s freedom fighters lived by that same spirit. Whatever it took, they wouldn’t back down in their fight against the British. If that meant leaving their homeland and continuing the struggle from a faraway land, so be it.
In this story, as we count down to India’s 79th Independence Day, we bring you a tale that feels straight out of a Bollywood thriller. There’s no film on it yet, but there should be. This is the story of an Indian revolutionary who chose to fight the British while living in Japan.
Rash Behari Bose was born on May 25, 1886, in the village of Subaldaha, West Bengal, into a world scarred by famine, poverty, and colonial exploitation. He grew up hearing about the miseries caused by British rule, and that anger, buried deep in his childhood, would one day spark a rebellion.
At Dupleix College in Chandernagore, then a French territory, Bose found himself drawn to the radical ideas of the French Revolution. He earned degrees in medical science and engineering, but his heart lay elsewhere. By 16, he was experimenting with explosives. Inspired by Bengal’s militant nationalists like Jatindranath Mukherjee (Bagha Jatin), Bose believed freedom wasn’t something you asked for. It had to be taken by force, if needed. In 1912, he planned something audacious: to assassinate the British Viceroy of India, Lord Hardinge. The idea was to strike during a grand procession in Delhi. A bomb was hurled at Hardinge’s elephant carriage in Chandni Chowk. Though the Viceroy survived, the message was loud and clear that India’s youth was no longer afraid.
But Bose didn’t disappear into the shadows. Working as a clerk at the Forest Research Institute in Dehradun, he led a double life. By day, he served the British Empire. By night, he was building a secret network of revolutionaries, linking Bengal's hot-blooded rebels with Punjab’s Arya Samaj activists.
So cunning was he that, after the failed assassination, he even helped organize a reception to welcome Hardinge back, while the British were still hunting for the man who had tried to kill him.
Revolutionary Rash Behari Bose , He Was Instrumental In Organizing Azad Hind Fauz #AzaadiKiNishaniyan pic.twitter.com/FAX444ISFN
— indianhistorypics (@IndiaHistorypic) August 1, 2018
(Credit: indianhistorypics)
After the Delhi conspiracy, Bose’s name was at the top of every British wanted list. A reward of Rs 1 lakh (massive at the time) was announced for anyone who could help capture him. His fellow conspirators were hanged or sentenced to life in prison. Bose, with a knack for slipping past danger, once rode on the same train as a senior British official, sitting opposite him in disguise.
Glimpses of celebrations to mark the 139 Birth Anniversary of Rash Behari Bose. Ambassador @AmbSibiGeorge announced year of 2025-2026 as Year of Rash Behari Bose, honoring his legacy and contributions to India’s freedom struggle.#ConnectingHimalayasWithMountFuji pic.twitter.com/o2b8RwTqkG
— India in Japanインド大使館 (@IndianEmbTokyo) May 26, 2025
(Credit: India in Japan)
But he knew his luck was running out.
In 1915, he joined forces with the Ghadar Movement, which was a global network of Indian revolutionaries plotting mutiny within the British Indian Army. When the plan collapsed and arrests swept across the country, Bose knew it was time to disappear for good.
Well, Japan wasn’t chosen by chance. After its victory over Russia in 1905, Japan had become a symbol of Asian strength. It had resisted Western imperialism and inspired leaders across the continent. So, for Bose, Japan was a potential partner. And there was one more factor: World War I was underway, and Japan was not fully aligned with Britain. If there was a place where the British couldn’t reach him, it was here.
Under the fake name Priyanath Thakur, Bose left India and arrived in Tokyo in 1915. But the chase wasn’t over.
Bose’s escape was a page straight out of a thriller. With British intelligence breathing down his neck, he used fake names, changed appearances, and traveled through India like a ghost. When he finally made it to Japan, British authorities immediately pressed for his extradition. That’s when fate and friendship intervened.
Mitsuru Toyama, a well-known Japanese nationalist with Pan-Asian ideals, took Bose under his wing. Another key supporter was the Soma family, owners of the Nakamuraya bakery in Tokyo’s Shinjuku district. They offered him shelter, protection, and eventually, a place in their family.
In 1918, Bose married Toshiko Soma, the family's eldest daughter. It gave him Japanese citizenship in 1923 and a shield against British demands. He learned the Japanese language in just four months and fully immersed himself in his new homeland.
But mind you, his mission hadn’t changed. From the corners of Tokyo, he began planning once again for India's freedom.
In Tokyo, Bose became a revolutionary diplomat. He wrote extensively in Japanese newspapers, exposing British colonial brutality and winning public sympathy. In 1933, he founded New Asia, a magazine that gave voice to anti-colonial thinkers across the continent. His ability to speak fluent Japanese made him a popular figure in nationalist circles. In 1931, he launched the Indian Independence League (IIL) in Japan, calling for India's freedom “by all possible means.” Over the next decade, he expanded the league across Southeast Asia (from Malaya to Singapore to Thailand), uniting the Indian diaspora.
His biggest move came in 1942, when he helped form the Indian National Army (INA) with Indian POWs captured by the Japanese during World War II. Bose wanted the INA to fight alongside Japan against the British in India.
But he knew Japan's support had its limits. So he negotiated, carefully ensuring the INA would remain under Indian control and not just a tool of Japanese strategy.
Bose was strategic. At the Bangkok Conference in 1942, he helped draft a plan that clearly defined the INA’s role and the IIL’s independence. But internal disagreements, especially with INA’s first commander, Captain Mohan Singh, led to setbacks. The army briefly collapsed.
Bose understood he wasn’t the one to lead troops on the battlefield. He was the architect, not the general. So, in 1943, he made a pivotal decision.
He invited Subhas Chandra Bose, whom he had met years earlier through Veer Savarkar, to take over the INA. The two men met in Singapore, and in a symbolic handover, Rash Behari passed the reins of the army and the movement. Subhas took charge, and the INA was revived. With Bose’s foundation and Subhas’s charisma, the army grew to nearly 50,000 soldiers, including civilians and captured Indian soldiers. Though the military campaign stalled at Imphal, the INA’s legacy shook the British Empire. The Red Fort trials of INA soldiers in 1945 sparked nationwide protests, turning Indian public sentiment against the British.
From his Tokyo base, Bose built one of the most effective global networks in India’s freedom struggle. He worked with Japanese military officials, Pan-Asian scholars, and Indian communities across Southeast Asia. Thus, he was building unity among Indians abroad, many of whom had never thought they could be part of the movement.
His writings, speeches, and diplomacy made the Indian cause a respected voice in global anti-imperialist circles. And his influence was such that Japan, a world power at the time, continued backing the INA even after his death.
Rash Behari Bose was an Indian revolutionary leader against the British Raj and was one of the key organisers of the Ghadar Mutiny and later the Indian National Army.Rash Behari Bose handed over Indian National Army to Subhas Chandra Bose. pic.twitter.com/ofB7uDpQuh
— Congress (@INCIndia) January 21, 2019
(Credit: Congress)
Strangely, one of Bose’s most lasting legacies in Japan has nothing to do with politics, but with food.
While hiding at the Nakamuraya bakery, he introduced an Indian curry recipe made with local ingredients. It was rich, spicy, and unlike anything Tokyo had tasted before. The dish, Nakamuraya Indo Karii, became a sensation and is still served today in Shinjuku, more than a century later.
But Bose never got to see the country he loved become free.
He died of tuberculosis on January 21, 1945, just two years before India’s independence. Japan honored him with one of its highest civilian awards, the Order of the Rising Sun. His body was carried in an imperial coach, a rare tribute for a foreigner.
In India, he was later remembered with a postage stamp in 1967.
