Louie Zamperini's Unbroken

Lisa Knopp, in an astute observation, wrote: “The act of making something from what is already there always involves a simultaneous creation and destruction....turning the events, images, and ideas of one's life into a written story --is a destroyer.” Perhaps Rekola should have been pre-warned.
I had just finished reading Unbroken when I started this one. It was the perfect story to follow Louie Zamperini's.
Is it pure co-incidence that this story depicts a Corporal Kota Hokari, whose claim to fame was that (like Zamperinni) he had participated in the 1936 Olympic Games as a sprinter? Is it also a co-incidence that the same descriptions of Zamerinni’s nemesis are also applied to the Corporal in charge (sadistic, teetering on the brink of insanity, bursts of irrationality, humiliating insults)
In a radio interview Rekola explains that the diary was translated into English for the purpose of finding out about the soldier’s life. What is revealed in reading the book is an exceptionally benevolent stance. As a self-described committed Christian, did Rekola have a hidden agenda in publishing this book? Her followers on twitter talk about the book in terms of: our shared humanity. Within, we are one family, this story renewed my faith in the human spirit.
Would a Japanese soldier

Not according to Hisataka (Taka) Uematsu, a Japanese national, journalist and history buff, living in Brisbane with his Australian wife and two young children. And he should know. In 2012, he was asked if he would like to audition for the part of a Japanese soldier in the making of the film of The Railway Man. During filming in Australia, Taka impressed the Japanese adviser to the film company with his in depth knowledge of Japanese history and so it wasn’t long before he became an assistant adviser. This led to his involvement in the making of Unbroken a year later for which there were endless conversations and rewrites to get the tone of things