Japanese officials are investigating claims that two men living in jungle in the Philippines are Japanese soldiers left behind after World War II.
The pair, in their 80s, were reportedly found on southern Mindanao island.
The men were expected to travel to meet Japanese officials on Friday, but have yet to make contact.
[snip]
The two men on Mindanao contacted a Japanese national who was collecting the remains of war dead on Mindanao, according to government sources.
They had equipment which suggested they were former soldiers.
"It is an incredible story if it is true," Japan's consul general in Manila, Akio Egawa, told the AFP news agency.
"They were found, I believe, in the mountains near General Santos on Mindanao Island.
"At this stage we are not saying either way whether or not these two men are in fact former soldiers. We may be in a better position later today," he said.
According to Japanese media reports, the pair had been living with Muslim rebel groups and at least one of them has married a local woman and had a family.
The BBC's Tokyo correspondent says the likelihood is that they are well aware the war is over but have chosen to stay in the Philippines for their own reasons.
I suspect these guys know the war is over given the fact that they were living among others. Beyond a certain amount of geographic isolation there's no reason to think they had no information about the outside world. Still, it's amazing how the living legacy of World War II carries on even today.
Thanks to ETK for the pointer.
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