Japan: Japanese diplomats and a throng of reporters were kept waiting yesterday to find out whether two elderly men in the southern Philippines were Japanese soldiers left over from the second World War.
Japanese media reported the men were in the mountainous area of Mindanao island and had contacted a Japanese person searching for the remains of second World War soldiers. The area is a hotbed of kidnapping gangs and Muslim rebels.
Two Japanese embassy officials were waiting at a hotel in the nearby city of General Santos to verify whether the men were the first cases in 30 years of war-time stragglers being found, government spokesman Hiroyuki Hosoda told reporters in Tokyo.
"Arrangements are being made to meet with the two of them, but the time of this meeting still hasn't been decided," he said.
"If we can meet with them, we'd like to verify their identity as soon as possible."
But embassy officials said that a Japanese mediator who contacted them on Thursday had failed to make contact as promised. They said they would wait one more day. "We are now doubting the reports," said Shuhei Ogawa, the Japanese embassy's press attaché.
The Japanese health ministry, in charge of investigating the cases, said it had received reports about four possible former soldiers in the Philippines but was taking only two seriously.
"Since we haven't actually spoken to them, we can't verify who they are," said one ministry official. "We can't confirm the possibility but we can't categorically deny it either."
The Philippines, invaded by Japan in 1941, was the scene of heavy fighting at the end of the war as Japanese soldiers fiercely loyal to the emperor fought US troops across the sprawling country.
Japanese media played the story of the possible former soldiers prominently at home, showing footage of Japanese troops during the war but not touching on a brutal occupation that is believed to have left as many as one million Filipinos dead.
Prime minister Junichiro Koizumi told reporters that if the two were found to be Japanese soldiers, the government would make every effort to repatriate them, if that was their wish.
"If they are alive, we'd like to fulfil their wishes," Mr Koizumi said."
They've really done well to stay alive this long." Media named the two men as Yoshio Yamakawa (87) and Tsuzuki Nakauchi (85).