Amazing Near-Death Experience of a Man Who Suffered Full Cardiopulmonary Arrest and Brain Death

This is a true story of a man who suffered full cardiopulmonary arrest and brain death but came back to life again 30 minutes after being confirmed dead.

Tsuruhiko Kiuchi (born 1954) is a Japanese comet hunter who had an amazing near-death experience.

Tsuruhiko Kiuchi (born 1954), a Japanese comet hunter and a writer. 

A Comet Hunter Who Had a Near-Death Experience

Kiuchi was born in 1954 in Koumi town, Minamisaku District, Nagano, Japan.

When he was in his fifth year of elementary school, Kiuchi saw Comet Iketani-Seki (C/1965 S1) which sparked his lifelong interest in comets.

Comet Ikeya-Seki, 30 October 1965. Photo by James W. Young (TMO/JPL/NASA)

Then, Kiuchi worked for Japan Air Self-Defense Force (JASDF) as a flight dispatcher of aeronautical operational control in Hyakuri Air Base in Omitama, Ibaraki, Japan.

Hyakuri Air Base

According to Kiuchi, there were six officers in his department, working three shifts, two in each shift, 24 hours a day.

So, there was no time off at all because there was no room for staffing.

That’s what took its toll on his body.

In 1976, at the age of 22, when he finished a night work in the airport control tower of the airbase, Kiuchi was struck down with excruciating pain in his abdomen.

He felt the pain as if his stomach had suddenly contracted, causing stomach cramps.

And the blood drained from his head and everything around him became black.

Kiuchi tried to call someone, but he lost his voice.

Fortunately, his colleagues noticed something unusual right away.

Then, Kiuchi was carried to a nearby obstetrician’s hospital.

The doctors at the hospital took his x-rays and prescribed medication.

However, his stomach got tighter and tighter, and he was writhing in agony from the pain.

This condition is very hard to treat in our hospital.

The doctor told him.

So he was taken by ambulance to Tokyo Medical University Kasumigaura Hospital, about an hour’s drive away.

Kiuchi was diagnosed with superior mesenteric artery duodenal obstruction which was a very rare case because only 120 cases as to the disease were reported in the world.

Unfortunately, it was also known as a critical illness.

No one had ever survived the disease at that time.

However, 30 minutes after being pronounced dead, Kiuchi miraculously revived.

It is the only example in Japan that the resuscitation after being confirmed dead was recorded in the medical chart.

Therefore, Kiuchi’s case was reported as a rare instance in the Japanese Association of Medical Sciences.

After that, Kiuchi published books about his amazing near-death experience and the books hit the bestseller list in Japan.

This near-death experience made him think, 

What is this universe?

 

 

What is time and space?

What am I?

Thus, the above question became the source of his drive for comet-hunting.

After recovery from illness, Kiuchi retired from JASDF and began comet hunting.

Then, he made outstanding achievements in comet hunting.

On March 16, 1990, he discovered Comet Cernis-Kiuchi-Nakamura (1990b).

On July 16, 1990, he discovered Comet Tsuchiya-Kiuchi (1990i).

On January 7, 1991, he rediscovered Comet Metcalf-Brewington (1906VI=97P/1906 V2).

On September 27, 1992, Kiuchi rediscovered Comet Swift-Tuttle (109P/Swift-Tuttle).

Perseid meteor, originating from Comet Swift-Tuttle, from the ISS

Before this rediscovery, it was predicted that it would return between 1979 and 1983, but it didn’t show up.

In 1990-1992, comet hunters around the world usually calculated cometary orbits using a computer and spotted a comet on a photographic plate.

However, Kiuchi calculated cometary orbits using a handy calculator and spotted comets with a large binocular telescope in Mt. Yatsugatake.

Kiuchi hunting for a comet through a large binocular telescope in Mt. Yatsugatake

Thus, Kiuchi became famous as a Japanese amateur astronomer hunting comets around the world.

Kiuchi Had an Amazing Near-Death Experience

Kiuchi is also famous as a person who had a near-death experience.

As described above, at the age of 22, Kiuchi was on the verge of life and death.

He felt foggy lying in a hospital bed and heard the doctor saying to his family,

I think he has just a week to live.

Then, Kiuchi suddenly slipped into critical condition.

He abruptly lost consciousness as if a blind was closed.

A Tunnel Covered with Mud

Kiuchi found himself in the darkness.

He did not know where he was.

When he looked around, he found a light in the distance.

So, Kiuchi began to move towards the light.

He felt as if he crept through the mud in a rice field.

After a while, he crept out of the mud.

When he looked back, he saw a cave-like tunnel through which he had crept.

Outside the tunnel, it was gloomy just like it was during sunset.

Before him, he saw a dim light like a campfire in the distance.

The Styx and a Wooden Boat

After Kiuchi walked for some time, he got to a vast river.

The river was slowly flowing.

Strangely, it was black and white up to the opposite bank, but the light on the opposite bank looked yellowish.

The drawing of the river by Kiuchi. There was a vast river on the other side of the tunnel and the opposite side of the river looked yellowish.

Then, Kiuchi walked along the reedy riverside looking for a way to the other side of the river.

Kiuchi found a wooden boat.

Unfortunately, the boat was half broken and it had no oar.

However, he pushed the boat into the river and jumped in it.

Then, Kiuchi plowed through the river swing his arms in the water.

The boat drifted from left to right along the course of the river.

Strangely, Kiuchi found that the position of the light before him did not change at all, even though the boat drifted from left to right.

After he got to the other side, he fell flat on his face on the grass from exhaustion.

A Reunion with the Departed People

After a while, Kiuchi raised his head and he saw a bonfire-like light about 15 to 20 meters (about 16 to 22 yards) away from him.

Near the light, the shadows of four or five people were wavering like heat haze.

Then, one of the shadows came close to Kiuchi.

It was a middle-aged woman in a mourning dress.

At that time, Kiuchi did not know who she was, but he found out later that she looked the same as his aunt who had died young soon after he was born.

She asked Kiuchi,

What brings you here, Tsuruhiko?

Kiuchi could not come up with the right words to say.

Then, the woman took him to the bonfire.

Around the bonfire, there were two old women, an old man, and a young man.

Kiuchi was surprised to see the young man because he was his cousin who died several years before.

He died in his 20s after getting stuck in a bulldozer.

Kiuchi was happy to see him again and had a great conversation about their relatives and his uncle.

A Hill and a Field of Flowers

Sometime after that, his deceased aunt said to him,

Follow me.

Then, Kiuchi followed her.

He saw a hill with a gentle slope ahead of him.

The hill was grassy, but it had no trees.

They reached the top of the hill.

The opposite side of the hill was full of flowers like tulips of many different colors.

The drawing of the tulips by Kiuchi. There were many brightly colored tulips like red and yellow ones.

The flowers smelled sweet.

The Golden Sun and an Angel

When Kiuchi looked up at the sky, he saw a big golden light there.

Thus, everything was glowing gold in the light.

Kiuchi and his deceased aunt walked through the field of flowers.

Suddenly, Kiuchi saw a ball of light popped up from the golden light in the sky.

The ball moved about freely in the sky leaving a trail of light behind it like a dragon.

Amazingly, it came down in front of his eyes.

Kiuchi saw the face of a person in the ball of light.

It seemed that the person was looking into his face.

It was a noble and beautiful woman.

According to Koichi, the woman looked like the Queen of Grace.

A Miraculous Return from the Dead

After that, Kiuchi and his aunt went down the hill.

On the way, Kiuchi realized that his deceased aunt had disappeared.

Where did she go?

Kiuchi got worried about her and thus he looked around.

Suddenly, he woke up.

Kiuchi found himself standing by a hospital bed.

To his amazement, his dead body was lying in bed.

In the room, the doctor and the nurses scrambled to revive his body.

However, no one seemed to have been aware of Kiuchi standing by the bed.

Suddenly, Kiuchi desired to return to life again.

He wanted to confirm whether what he saw during the near-death experience was true or a kind of hallucination.

If he came to life again, he wanted to confirm the near-death experience on his own.

Thus, Kiuchi moved in closer to his dead body lying in bed.

Surprisingly, the next moment, Kiuchi found that his mind went back to his body.

At the same time, the pain came back to his body.

And he felt that his consciousness was clouded.

Then, Kiuchi lost consciousness again.

When he came again to himself, he found that his other aunt was sitting at the bedside.

She was trying to bring a spoon to his mouth.

In a foggy daze, Kiuchi took a sip of rice water in the spoon.

Oh, yummy!

He said without thinking.

To hear that, his aunt cried out.

Oh! Tsuruhiko has come alive again!

Then, the doctor and the nurses gathered in the room.

In this way, Kiuchi was pulled back to consciousness about 10 hours after he was out of critical condition.

After the Near-Death Experience

After that, Kiuchi rapidly recovered.

He took a duodenum bypass surgery and the operation was successful.

After a while, he was discharged from the hospital.

His case was so rare that a lot of medical professionals asked him for an interview with him not only in the hospital but also after the discharge from the hospital.

One day, an anesthetist reviewed a record of brain wave and an electrocardiogram of Kiuchi at the time of the critical condition.

He asked Kiuch eagerly.

Didn’t you see something then, did you?

The anesthetist seems to have interested in his near-death experience.

Thus, Kiuchi told him the details of his near-death experience, such as the tunnel-like cave, the huge river, the field of flowers, and reunion with the deceased relatives.

Amazingly, it was well known to hospital staff that critically ill patients saw a tunnel, a light, and a field of flowers.

More surprisingly, the doctor confirmed the full cardiopulmonary arrest and absence of brain waves of Kiuchi.

In other words, it was confirmed in the medical record that he was stone dead.

Nevertheless, Kiuchi miraculously returned from the dead.

Kiuchi began to tell people around him his amazing near-death experience.

Sometime after he came back to life, Kiuchi has been actively involved in giving a speech and releasing some books to prove the existence of the spirit world through his own near-death experience.

Someday, the time may come when the existence of the spirit world will be confirmed scientifically.

Then, the new age of exploration of the unknown spirit world may come in the future.

Published on December 2, 2018

Updated on June 18, 2020

Written by OTAKUPAPA

References

1. Tsuruhiko Kiuchi (November 1995). “The memory of the space.”
2. Tsuruhiko Kiuchi (April 2003). “The starry heavens teach our way of living.”
3. Tsuruhiko Kiuchi (May 23, 2014). “My near-death experience teaches the structure of the universe.”
4. Tsuruhiko Kiuchi In Wikipedia.