He was responsible for ordering the Wake Island massacre, in which 98 American civilians were murdered by Japanese soldiers.

As a sub-lieutenant, he served on the Iwate and after his promotion to lieutenant on December 1, 1924, he was assigned to the Hiei, Yura, and Sendai.

After the Battle of Wake Island on December 23, 1941, Sakaibara was appointed the garrison commander of the Japanese occupation force.

One prisoner (whose name has never been discovered) escaped, carved a message into a rock about the incident but was then recaptured and personally beheaded by Sakaibara.

Instead the United States Navy established a submarine blockade, causing the Japanese garrison to starve.

After the war, Sakaibara, his subordinate, Lieutenant Commander Shoichi Tachibana, and Toraji Ito, were taken into custody by the American occupation authorities.

Sakaibara, Tachibana, and Ito were extradited to Kwajalein Island, where they were tried for war crimes by a U.S. military commission.