Tour guide says may have seen Japanese stragglers
Posted 07:14pm (Mla time) May 28, 2005 By Jeoffrey Maitem
Inquirer News Service
GENERAL SANTOS CITY -- An account by a Filipino-Japanese octogenarian, who worked as a tour guide for visiting Japanese nationals in South Cotabato province, might give more credence to reports about the presence of Japanese stragglers in Central Mindanao.
Mary Kawai, who speaks fluent Nihongo, said that two years ago, a B'laan native, whom she met previously, and two Japanese-looking individuals about her age came to her house in Barangay (village) Silway here to ask for help.
She said the visitors had told her they were starving.
Kawai said she invited them inside and was surprised to see that the B'laan's companions, who sported ponytails, removed their slippers.
"So I asked them if they wanted kohe [coffee]. They nodded," she said.
Kawai said when she asked if the two Japanese-looking men spoke Nihongo, they stared at each other before gesturing they did not.
"But I was suspecting they were Japanese," she said. Kawai said before the visitors left, the two Japanese-looking men hugged her tight.
Commenting on reports about the presence of two Japanese stragglers--reports that are being confirmed by Japanese officials--Kawai said there could be some truth to it.
She said that her friends from the Filipino-Japanese community in Tupi town, South Cotabato have said that there were at least four members of the defunct Japanese Imperial Army seen in the area.
Tupi hosts a Japanese shrine and some tunnels built by Japanese soldiers during World War II.
Inquirer Mindanao Bureau
http://news.inq7.net/breaking/index.php?index=2&story_id=38447
Japanese journalist loses $20,000 at airport
THE LAST time Japanese journalist Akira Maki saw his black bag with 20,000 dollars inside it was when he placed it on the x-ray feeder at the Manila Domestic Airport in Pasay City. The bag never came out.
Maki, 45, a correspondent for the Tokyo Broadcasting System (TBS), was to take an Air Philippines flight via Cagayan de Oro City to General Santos City Saturday morning to cover the news on two reported World War II Japanese stragglers.
Manila International Airport Authority (MIAA) general manager Alfonso Cusi immediately ordered a thorough investigation of the incident.