Diplomats from Japan yesterday investigated astonishing claims that two former Japanese soldiers have been hiding in the mountains of southern Philippines since World War II.
Japanese Embassy representatives went to the region to interview the two mystery men in a scheduled meeting yesterday arranged by a third person who had contacted the mission, embassy official Masaru Watanabe said.
However, the diplomats were kept waiting at a hotel in General Santos city, about 1,000km south of Manila, Japanese Embassy spokesman Shuhei Ogawa said.
As of yesterday afternoon, the two men hadn't shown up, Ogawa said.
Media reports in Japan said the two octogenarians lived on the southern island of Mindanao with equipment suggesting they were former soldiers, with one report saying they were separated from their division and later wanted to return to Japan but feared they would face a courtmartial.
Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi said in Tokyo he hoped the mystery would be cleared up soon.
"We are checking it now," he told reporters. "It is a surprise if it's true, but we have to check first."
Goichi Ichikawa, the chairman of a veterans group in Japan, said he first alerted the Tokyo government of reports about the men in February, asking that they be rescued as soon as possible.
Ichikawa said he learned of at least three Japanese men living in the mountains of Mindanao from someone who went there late last year.
"It's amazing they were able to survive for 60 years," Ichikawa told reports in Osaka. "Of course I was stunned."
The reports were reminiscent of World War II straggler Lieutenant Hiroo Onoda, who believed the war was still on when he was found in the jungle on the Philippine island of Lubang in 1974. He refused to give up until March of that year, when Japan flew in his former commander to formally inform him the war was over.
Another former Japanese soldier, Shoichi Yokoi, was found on Guam in 1972. He returned home and died in 1997.
Japan's Kyodo News agency said the two may be Yoshio Yamakawa, 87, and Tsuzuki Nakauchi, 83. But the Health Ministry in Tokyo declined to confirm the report saying they could not disclose any information until officials have identified them.
Embassy officials "want to meet directly with those two persons to find out if they are really Japanese soldiers, [and to find out details] beginning with their names and age," Watanabe said.
The Sankei Shimbun said the two had been in the mountains of Mindanao for about 60 years.
They remained there after failing to join their division after wandering in the mountains, the paper said. Last September, a Japanese national in the lumber business ran into them in the mountains. It was learned later that they wanted to go back to Japan but were afraid of facing a court-martial for withdrawing from action, the Sankei said.
But a senior Filipino police intelligence officer in the area cautioned that the story was yet to be confirmed.
"There is a possibility that this could just be a hoax," he said.
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