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| Mindanao Map (Photo credit: esambale) |
prime minister, Junichiro Koizumi dispatches diplomats. Two men in their eighties emerged from dense jungle on the Phillipine island of Mindanao which is 600 miles from Manila claiming they had been in hiding since before the end of the second world war. The Kyodo news agency identified them as Yoshio Yamakawa, 87, and Tsuzuki Nakauchi, 85, and said they were former members of a division whose ranks were devastated in fierce battles with US forces towards the end of the war. Japanese prime minister , Mr Koizumi immediately sent a team of diplomats to verify the stories. He told reporters that if found to be true every effort would be made to repatriate them if that was what they wanted. The drama began on Thursday when a Japanese mediator for a veteran's group who was on Mindanao searching for the remains of former soldiers told the Japanese embassy in Manila that he had been contacted by the men and would be able to deliver them to the island's capital, General Santos, yesterday afternoon, but hopes were dashed when the two men vanished . A mediator for a japanese veterans agency said the men were possibly scared off by the media attention. "There has been nothing concrete at all today; nothing has happened," an embassy spokesman, Shuhei Ogawa, reported from the hotel where the Japanese delegation was waiting. Every one was hopeful and would be staying at least until today. The story barely had a mention in the japanese media sceptical that the men could exist 60 years after leaving home to fight for the emperor. "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 Davao, the main city on Mindanao. When Emperor Hirohito surrendered in august 1945 there were an estimated 3 million soldiers operating over seas many going into hiding holding onto their weapons and ammunition. "We always have rumours about war veterans turning up alive in remote parts of the Philippines," Mr Ogawa said. "But this time the story seemed more credible. We had someone who promised us concrete information, a meeting on a certain day. So we took it more seriously."
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