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Sunday, June 12, 2005
The hunt for the story that never was
By Edwin G. Espejo
IN THE end, it was the journalist interviewing a fellow journalist. That was how the rumor about the two alleged remnants of the Japanese Imperial Army found in the jungles in Mindanao ended up--with a quiet whimper just three days after the report made big splashes in major Japanese media networks.
It would have been the story of the decade for the Japanese media. Imagine sixty years. Sixty years after the Japanese Imperial Army surrendered to the Allied Forces in the Pacific and two aging Japanese soldiers still refusing to believe the war has ended!
Second invasion
The sudden rush of Japanese media had the city agog with curious onlookers and bystanders wondering if this was the second invasion of the Japanese.
On Friday morning last week, members of the Japan's largest television and newspaper networks started to arrive.
By 5 p.m., the East Asia Royale Hotel was already fully booked but inquiries for reservation continued to pour in. One of Japan's largest television networks, the Tokyo Broadcasting System News (TBS News), even chartered a private plane to fly in their reporters and camera crew.
NHK, Japan's counterpart of the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) sent in their correspondents from Thailand, Malaysia, Manila and a crew from Tokyo.
Not to be outdone, Asahi TV also flew in their television crew armed with state of the art broadcasting equipment.
Reuters and Agence France Presse also deployed their correspondents to get first hand accounts of the story.
The arrival of three Japanese embassy officials in the city all the more made the report of two alleged Japanese stragglers sound credible.
The last known Japanese straggler in the country to come out from his jungle hideout in Lubang Island in Mindoro was Hirohito Onoda who "surrendered" in 1974.
He was met with a huge hero's welcome when he arrived home in Japan but eventually migrated to Brazil after suffering a "culture shock". But the report of the story of two Japanese holdouts could be even more perplexing and romantic. This could be the story of the ages.
How it all started
According to Kyodo News correspondent Arlene Burgos, the report about two Japanese stragglers found somewhere at the outskirts of the city first appeared in the evening papers in Japan Thursday.
Citing a Japanese national who contacted the Japanese embassy in Manila, the report said two members of the Japanese Imperial Army have reportedly surfaced 60 years after the war in the Philippines ended.
They were identified by Japanese embassy officials as Yoshio Yamakawa, 87, and Tsuzuki Nakauchi, 85.
Although nobody has actually seen the two, the reports said the Japanese contact had with him documents to prove the two are still alive and are indeed members of the Japan's wartime army.
The wires said Yamakawa was a lieutenant and Nakauchi a corporal of Japan's famed "Panther" division that fought fiercely with the American army and Filipino guerillas towards the end of the war.
In their first official briefing, Japanese envoys disclosed a certain Keizuki Asano was the contact who gave them the information about the two Japanese stragglers. Reports said Asano is a long time resident here and has Filipino contacts who saw the two Japanese soldiers.
A check with the Bureau of Immigration and Deportation office in the city however yielded negative results. BID alien control officer for General Santos City said there is no Asano in their records and that only three Japanese are registered as residents here.
The race for the story
It was not only the Japanese media who were desperately looking for the story. Superintendent Robert Kiunisala, chief of the Philippine National Police 12 intelligence division was sent by his superiors to verify the reports and coordinate with the Japanese envoys and member of Tokyo's press community.
The first hint of the presence of the two Japanese stragglers pointed to Barangay Sinapulan in Columbio, Sultan Kudarat, a rebel-infested area.
According to police reports, some Japanese nationals approached two aging brothers a year ago.
It triggered speculations the two were the "missing" Japanese soldiers. Columbio mayor Edwin Bermudez however quickly doused the report saying brothers Roberto and Abas Amloy are B'laan and known village officials and are just in their 50's. So they could not be the Japanese stragglers the press people were looking for.
At close to sundown Friday, Seeichi Ogawa, consul officer of the Japanese embassy in Davao City said they have lost contact with Asano but are staying put for further instructions from their embassy office in Manila.
Taking their chances, some members of the Japanese media went to Tacurong City the following morning to interview the Amloy brothers, who were summoned by police officials for interview, only to be disappointed that they were no closer to the real story.
The enterprising ones
The presence of Japanese media, some of them have gone the Philippines for the only first time in their lives, resulted into an unexpected bonanza for some enterprising members of the local media and car owners.
For a fee of P800 to $100 dollars a day, some Japanese news networks were willing to hire some members of the local media--and many answered to the call--to help translate and find contacts and clues that may lead them to the story.
With only Avis-Rent-A-Car, a private rental company in the city, available and already taken out, some enterprising car owners and unregistered car-for-hire owners had their heydays for four days.
Bombit, who owns a Mitsubishi Strada pick up truck, was paid P7,500 for two days --exclusive of the gas.
Why! Even the City Government belatedly handed out brochures to advertise the city that was promptly followed by the Provincial Government of Sarangani that also distributed its own roadmap profile of the province.
Clandestine meetings
"Outscooping" each other was the name of the game for the Japanese media in the weekend that was to come.
Kyodo News was the first to report that its reporters had met with Asano somewhere in the city. A photo of the bull cap-wearing Asano with his back facing the camera reportedly appeared in the website of the Japanese news agency.
Not to be outdone, Japan's Manichi Shimbun reported that the "handlers" of the Japanese stragglers were asking for $242,000 before they would turnover the two to the Japanese embassy.
The Manila Daily Shimbun even reported that the Moro Islamic Liberation Front its field commanders have received information that two Japanese stragglers were sighted in Mindanao. One was reportedly seen at the foot of Mount Matutum while the other one was monitored in Balut Island.
Both reports could not be independently verified, however.
As the situation grew tenser, the search for "sidebar" stories also doubled.
Many volunteered to offer information about the two Japanese stragglers and even Japanese-looking residents in their area. There was the name Yamashita from Maasim. The Taos from Glan. And many more. But these offers really led nowhere near the biggest catch of them all.
Meanwhile, AFP photographer Jole Nito just went to Buayan to shoot photos of Japanese wartime bunkers.
A crew from Asahi TV also went to Sitio Kalaja in Barangay Conel where a huge tunnel capable of accommodating a Japanese war tank is being dug up for the famed Yamashita gold by local treasure hunters.
Still there were no sightings of the two Japanese stragglers. On Sunday evening, NHK clandestinely met with a Japanese national who introduced himself as Asano.
The manner with which and how the meeting place was to take place will make John le Carre's spy novels a Barbara Cartland piece.
Asano, after a talk with a Malaysia-based Filipina correspondent of NHK earlier in the day, agreed to rendezvous with the Japanese television network inside Dunkin Donuts along the National Highway fronting a Catholic school here.
Appearing haggard and reportedly reeking with liquor, Asano said the Japanese stragglers would only surface away from the limelight of the media.
He reportedly rattled off some incredible stories including telling the Jemaah Islamiya to redirect its attack to Japan.
He also told NHK that he is now being hunted by the police after a warrant of arrest was issued against him for some unpaid obligations. That meeting probably unmasked him.
Hasty leave
A day after, on Monday June 30, Japanese consul general Ekio Egawa announced they would leave the city after efforts to locate the two Japanese Imperial Army remnants of World War II have failed.
Although Egawa never admitted that the story about the two stragglers could have been a hoax as Superintendent Robert Kiunisala earlier warned, some members of the local media here said their hasty exit was just a face-saving measure.
It was not exactly a French leave but the face of the Japanese consul general told it all.
Barely two hours after Egawa held a press conference, he was off and hastily left for Davao along with three other Japanese envoys. Before leaving, he said they would hence continue to establish contact with Asano in Manila.
So instead of coming out with a sensational story, members of the Japanese media sent dispatch about their disappointing saga in the search for the biggest story of their lives.
Local media wags said the Japanese press was hit by Japocor--a dig at the Japan Power Corporation. Kuryente as what a non-story is called in the local media parlance.
After at, it started with a Japanese national tipping off the Japanese embassy and some Japanese media probably picking up the story.
Well, it was also the Japanese people who were looking for the Japanese stragglers. The only sidebar is that the actual setting is in General Santos, a city made known for its succulent tuna, a popular delicacy in Japan.
Dejected
An obviously disappointed Azumi Kuroiwa of TBS News said he and his crew were very tired and a little upset. He said they traveled all the way from Tokyo only to have their time and money "just drained out."
"I felt very sorry for all the people and the hotel for the furor (this incident has created)," he said in impeccable English.
(The night before, his TBS team bought a P75,000-worth of brand new generator expecting to dispatch stories in a flash in case of power outage)
"Yeah, kind of," a Manila Daily Shimbun reporter said when asked if he was disappointed. "I thought I would stay longer. Everybody expected to."
Arsyl Villareal, NHK cameraman said the Japanese media is still not giving up hope.
"Even 1 percent is left, that is still a possibility," he said.
Even before the Japanese envoys announced they are leaving, ABS-CBN's Aladin Bacolodan said he was leaving Wednesday.
Well, he did not. He left a day earlier than he said. But some of the Japanese media held on until Wednesday.
On Tueday, as most of the Japanese media were preparing to leave, NHK's Manila Bureau chief Masaru Takagi still tried to get the story about the Japanese-looking man in Barangay Landan whose body was reportedly laced with tattoos.
The NHK team sent a member of the local media to speak with the man and take footage of him. Still, it was not meant to be.
There was no story of the Japanese straggler, after all.
For Bisaya stories from General Santos.Click here. (This section is updated every Monday)
(June 6, 2005 issue)
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