Unconfirmed: Two Living, Ex-Japanese Soldiers Found in Philippines (Mindanao)

Mainichi News in Tokyo (in Japanese) (linked) ^ | 26 May 2005 | Mainichi Shimbun in Japan (in Japanese)

[AmericanInTokyo]

Just only a quick blurb in the top news segement today, but Mainichi News reports that two elderly Japanese men in their 80s have turned themselves into or otherwise presented themselves to Japanese authorities in the southern Philippines in Mindanao, apparantly "surrendering" or at least talking to them, after holding our for nearly 60 years in the Philippines following Japan's WWII defeat.

A remarkable story if true.

Japanese-language Mainichi news story is linked. It is unclear what their Imperial Army unit was, if they knew the war had ended, and other details. They were said to be talking now with Japanese officials in a hotel on the island of "General Santos".

________________________________________

UPDATE!

The latest from what I can tell (3:00 a.m. Eastern Time Friday, May 27, 2005). And by the way, thank you for your kind comment.

A veteran of the Pacific War living in Saitama Prefecture in Japan, a "Teraishi san", who works with the War Survivor's Group, collects the remains of fallen Japanese soldiers. He is in his mid 80s.

He received a call from another man who is married to a woman in the Philipines, who was working to collect word in a forested area in Southern Mindanao. It was only yesterday that Terauchi received this international call from the Philippines which was rather frantic.

The woman had apparantly crossed into or had been in Muslim extremist controlled territory and had heard throught Moro fighters of the existence of "two elderly men from the Japanese army". Further, she got the information that they wanted to get out and passed it on to Japan, where it got to Terauchi.

Terauchi of course worked with the Japanese government who, through the Embassy in Philippines, to get the information.

There are still some survivors around from those days (much as WWII survivors are in the States), and they still look out for their own. Terauchi was in tears in the interview, saying the men were afraid of "Japanese Military Court Martial" if they returned to Japan, but of course he urges them to get back to Japan. This is from Yomiuri news. It is in Yomiuri, Mainichi, Fuji, NHK, Asahi, you name it.

I'll try to post any links to Japanese TV about this. The Moderate might also put (UPDATE) after this thread title if they could do so. Done.

________________________________________

Families of the men in Japan are reported as amazed, shocked and ecstatic.

In the case of (Sgt?) Nakauchi, his sister thought he was dead all these years. She stated that even before the WWII ended, they received a report he was killed, and they even "received his remains" after wards (ikotsu, literally, 'bones') and had buried him and it was all behind them.

They even had a funeral service when the 'body' was returned to the town, but since it was not recognizable I suppose they would have no way of knowing. At any rate, they want the men home ASAP.

Yamakawa's brother said "he sure hung in there," and expressed the same thoughts.

Nakauchi's mother died some 23 years ago. The Japanese authorities had given notice to the family in June 1945 that Nakauchi had been killed. Nakauchi's relative said that if the mother were alive she would be very happy.

Nakauchi's 'gravesite' can even be visited in Kochi Prefecture. It just says his name and rank, and "June 15, 1944, Killed in the War, 28 years old" on it. By the way, I'm getting that the men apparantly are not both (83), but one I believe is 87 and the other 85--so the age might have been an inaccuracy.

War buddies of the two men, a few still around, such as one fellow in Hiroshima, a "Nagai" (84) only had reflective thoughts of how bloody their battles were and "well, that's amazing. 60 years. I want to say "yoku yatta" when he returns ('you really hung in there').

Another relative expressed some trepidation about returning after all these years, and the fact there may be Philippine families effected because (one or both, not sure) the men married locally there.

[AmericanInTokyo]

Families of the men in Japan are reported as amazed, shocked and ecstatic.

In the case of (Sgt?) Nakauchi, his sister thought he was dead all these years. She stated that even before the WWII ended, they received a report he was killed, and they even "received his remains" after wards (ikotsu, literally, 'bones') and had buried him and it was all behind them. They even had a funeral service when the 'body' was returned to the town, but since it was not recognizable I suppose they would have no way of knowing. At any rate, they want the men home ASAP.

Yamakawa's brother said "he sure hung in there," and expressed the same thoughts.

Nakauchi's mother died some 23 years ago. The Japanese authorities had given notice to the family in June 1945 that Nakauchi had been killed. Nakauchi's relative said that if the mother were alive she would be very happy.

Nakauchi's 'gravesite' can even be visited in Kochi Prefecture. It just says his name and rank, and "June 15, 1944, Killed in the War, 28 years old" on it. By the way, I'm getting that the men apparantly are not both (83), but one I believe is 87 and the other 85--so the age might have been an inaccuracy.

War buddies of the two men, a few still around, such as one fellow in Hiroshima, a "Nagai" (84) only had reflective thoughts of how bloody their battles were and "well, that's amazing. 60 years. I want to say "yoku yatta" when he returns ('you really hung in there'). Another relative expressed some trepidation about returning after all these years, and the fact there may be Philippine families effected because (one or both, not sure) the men married locally there.

[AmericanInTokyo]

Correction on the Nakauchi 'gravesite' back in Japan. It says "1945" actually, not 1944. My correction based on calculation of the "Imperial Year" (Showa 20) that is on the grave stone.

[AmericanInTokyo]

Babelfish (translate), cut and paste away if you can.

As you know, these are all in Japanese--hence either you'll get Japanese text, or just an assortment of nonsense text if your machine is not formatted for Japanese text reading.

Here is another site, just now, talking about the possibility of at least FIFTY OR MORE OR MORE ADDITIONAL JAPANESE ARMY HOLDOUTS STILL ALIVE IN PHILIPPINES IN THAT MORO CONTROLLED AREA, a number whom do in fact want to return to Japan. (Information coming out as a result of updated news on these two guys found yesterday). Story at:

http://headlines.yahoo.co.jp/hl?a=20050527-00000070-mai-soci

[AmericanInTokyo]

Two (2) separate, short video reports here (the URL) from Japanese TV (300k) this a.m., in Windows Media Format (folks will need broadband). Shows general scenes of the area where the men are, as well as a Japanese on the phone with Philippines getting more details. (The callers says the men gave clear names and also addresses in Japan to prove their identities):

http://www.bcast.co.jp/cgi-bin/yahoo/news.asx?cid=20050527-00000017-ann-int-movie-001&media=wm300k

http://www.bcast.co.jp/cgi-bin/yahoo/news.asx?cid=20050527-00000047-jnn-soci-movie-001&cid=20050527-00000034-jnn-pol-movie-001&cid=20050527-00000033-jnn-pol-movie-001&cid=20050527-00000044-jnn-soci-movie-001&cid=20050527-00000054-jnn-soci-movie-001&media=wm300k

The second video report one lists the two Imperial Japanese soldier's ages as 87 and 83.

[AmericanInTokyo]

Thanks. Well here is your morning PING!

MANILA, May 27 (Reuters) - Japanese officials were waiting to meet two elderly men in the southern Philippines on Friday after reports they could be the first Japanese soldiers left over from World War Two to be found in 30 years. The Philippines, invaded by Japan in 1941, was the scene of heavy fighting at the end of the war as Japanese soldiers with fierce loyalty to the emperor fought U.S. troops across the sprawling country, which has thousands of remote islands. Japanese media reported the two men had been living in mountains near General Santos City on the island of Mindanao and had contacted a Japanese person who was in the area searching for the remains of World War Two soldiers. "Two officials from the Japanese embassy in the Philippines will meet them today and try to confirm their identities," government spokesman Hiroyuki Hosoda told a news conference in Tokyo. Japanese embassy press attache Shuhei Ogawa told reporters the name of one of the men was reported to be Yoshio Yamakawa from the western city of Osaka. He said the other man had the surname Nakauchi. Both men were reported to be 86 years old, he said. Japanese officials were waiting at a hotel in General Santos for the men, who were being brought to the meeting by a Japanese mediator. "If they come, we will ask them if they can speak Japanese and if they want to return to Japan," said Shinichi Ogawa, the Japanese consul for nearby Davao City. The Sankei Shimbun newspaper, quoting an unidentified source, said there were around 40 former Japanese soldiers living on Mindanao, all of them hoping to return home. ( AIT's note here: the report I saw said "57") The last known Japanese straggler from the war was found in 1975 in Indonesia. In 1974, former Japanese army intelligence officer Hiroo Onoda was found living in the jungle on the Philippine island of Lubang. He was unaware of Japan's defeat in 1945. (With reporting by George Nishiyama in Tokyo)

[11th_VA]

In this undated photo released by a family member and obtained by Kyodo News, Japanese Imperial Army soldier Tsuzuki Nakauchi is seen in a portrait. Pfc. Nakauchi is believed to be one of two former Japanese servicemen who have been hiding in the mountains of the southern Philippines island of Mindanao since World War II. Diplomats from Japan on Friday May 27, 2005, investigated the astonishing claims of two men who say they are former Japanese soldiers who have been hiding in the mountains of southern Philippines since World War II. Japanese Embassy representatives went to the region to interview the men in a meeting that was being arranged by a third person who contacted the mission, embassy official Masaru Watanabe said. Japanese Embassy spokesman Shuhei Ogawa cautioned that it was too early to draw any conclusions, saying there was no evidence yet that the men were WWII fighters. (AP Photo/Kyodo News)

[dsc]

"Japan * ping * (kono risuto ni hairitai ka detai wo shirasete kudasai : let me know if you want on or off this list)"

I'd like to be on the list.

[Velveeta]

Simply amazing!

[rlmorel]

That is true, as far as I have heard. Heck, we might even be actively encouraging them these days.

[AmericanInTokyo]

Morning BUMP! for the East Coast crowd.

[AmericanInTokyo]

That sounds like quite a list that DTogo has going there.

[AmericanInTokyo]

Thank you. It is really something, if true. I had heard there are actually three down there in the P.I. looking to come home. But there may be even more. Gives us hope that we can still find live US POWs in Nam or even in North Korea, perhaps.

[Samwise]

Incredible!

[Velveeta]

Interesting how things happen at such strange moments in time.

I mentioned this story to my 16 year old daughter (sophomore in H.S.) last night and her eyes bugged out.

She said her history teacher had just this week mentioned the Japanese soldier found 20 some years ago.

She printed out the BBC article this morning and is taking it with her to class today. The history teacher has a challenge to the students that if they bring in an article about a story he hasn't heard about, they recieve 5 extra credit points.

My daughter thinks she's a shoe-in for those points.
She asked me to thank you for breaking the story. :-)

[Bluegrass Conservative]

Your just pissed you surrendered in the Civil War. And it was the Yankees that beat the British whilst Southerners ran to the hills. :-[

Newsflash: Kentucky did not secede from the Union.

[dsc]

"And it was the Yankees that beat the British whilst Southerners ran to the hills."

Newsflash: George Washington and Thomas Jefferson were only two of the Southerners who played significant roles in the Revolution. Ever heard of the Swamp Fox?

The South has contributed far more than its share of distinguished soldiers throughout our history.

[moose2004]

Vive La France, Vive La Victory! (sarcasm)

[11th_VA]

She printed out the BBC article this morning and is taking it with her to class today.

My daughter is doing the same - when I told her about the story she said that was old news, her teacher said it happened in the 70's - took her a few minutes to realize this was another case ...

[Redbob]

...a woman in the Philipines, who was working to collect word in a forested area in Southern Mindanao."

You'd have thought that a "word" collector of all people would have known the war was over.

The "war" has been over for the Nips since oh, about 1989...

[11th_VA]

More from INQ7.net (Phillipine news outlet):

Yoshihiko Terashima, 86, who heads a council of Japanese war veterans' associations, said he spoke last year to a Filipina logger whose husband is Japanese and reported running into two lost former soldiers.

"The men told the woman, "We may be court-martialed and executed by firing squad if we return to Japan,'" Terashima said.

The comment would indicate the men have no idea that the once-ruthless imperial army has been defunct for six decades and Japan officially no longer has a military.

Chief Cabinet Secretary Hiroyuki Hosoda, the government spokesman, said the two men had a go-between who apparently feared what would happen if the recluses suddenly saw a mass of journalists.

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. Somebody may just want to gain something," the officer said.

Mindanao, an island of dense jungle, has witnessed more than two decades of Islamic insurgency. Japanese media reports said the pair had been living in guerrilla-controlled mountains near sprawling General Santos.

A former soldier who served in the same unit the men were reported to belong to said he heard from other veterans that one of them had been telling residents in Mindanao that his family name was Sakurai.

"In October or November, I heard local residents went into the mountains and met the man, who said 'My name is Sakurai. I am a Japanese,'" said Goichi Ichikawa, 89, speaking in Japan.

"The man apparently said he wanted to go home, but was worried," he told reporters.

http://www.philnews.com/