Japanese soldiers surrendering after 60 years

[lenidog]

I just picked this off of the net and posted it in the lounge but I thought this might be a good place to post it also. If this story proves to be true I find it to be miind boggling that these men are still out in the boondocks of the Philipines after 60 years and there are reports that as man as 40 others may be still out there. It makes me wonder how many may have died years ago alon in some jungle or on some pacific island either to afraid to come home or still doing their duty for the Emperor. If this report is correct can you imagine the culture shock these men are about to face. I remember reading a book years ago by a soldier who surrendered on Guam but that was in the late 60s or early 70s. That was bad enough but to hide for 60 years is incomprehensible.


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MANILA, Philippines - Japanese diplomats investigated claims Friday that two former Japanese soldiers have been hiding in the mountains of the southern Philippines since World War II.



The health ministry, in charge of repatriating Japanese overseas, said it was sending an official to the southern Philippine city of General Santos on Saturday to join Japanese embassy officials attempting to reach the pair.

The diplomats failed in their attempt Friday to arrange a meeting with the two men, officials said, and were left waiting in a hotel in the port city 600 miles south of Manila. They were scheduling another meeting Saturday through a Japanese mediator who had contacted the mission.

"We are doing our best to contact the mediator. ... We will just continue to wait. We hope there will be new developments tonight or tomorrow," Japanese Consul Seiichi Ogawa said.

Yu Kameoka, Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi's spokesman, said in Tokyo the two men apparently were reluctant to meet with officials because of the large number of people, including reporters, waiting to see them.

"According to a man who is mediating, the two men are rather worried about meeting with so many people gathered in General Santos, including those from the media," he said, adding no time has been set for a meeting.

Media reports in Japan said the two octogenarians lived on the southern island of Mindanao and used 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 court-martial.

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 reporters in the Japanese city of Osaka. "Of course I was stunned."

In September, a Japanese national in the lumber business ran into the men in the mountains, the Japanese newspaper Sankei Shimbun reported. 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 newspaper said.

Another source told the paper there may be more than 40 other Japanese soldiers living in the mountains, and they all want to return to Japan, the Sankei said.

Japan's Kyodo News agency said the two may be Yoshio Yamakawa, 87, and Tsuzuki Nakauchi, 83. But the health ministry 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," official Masaru Watanabe said.