cellrdwellr
Elite Member
Welcome from central MA!
..... I was looking for the lost treasures of the Tiger of Malaya-- billions were reportedly hidden by the Japanese Army in the Philippines during the war.......
Welcome to FMDF. Have you countenanced the possibility that no such treasure exists ? That it might be over-blown camp-fire stories gone awry ?
"Treasure stories" of the type/location you describe are a dime-a-dozen after all. Said to exist in every cave, and everywhere a Japanese soldier set foot. And oodles upon oodles of maps (that you can buy on street corners) circulate. Said to "have been written by a soldier serving under so & so at such & such battle". Passed through families and .... just now popping up.
And each and every story and map is "iron-clad" with stellar supposed lineage. Yet when you subject it to scrutiny, becomes a he-said-she-said situation. Yet from the perspective of the person telling you, it is indisputed and they are quite sincere. And since they sound so good (who can resist a good treasure story), they simply get passed down the chain unquestioned. "Lest you be left out".
But if you find "billions", be sure to post the show & tell pix. Because "billions" would certainly earn a well-deserved atteboy.
I have now been over there a number of times but only to the central part of the Philippines. I have taken my detector the last 2 times just to hunt the beaches. To hunt for treasure in land requires a goverment permit and they take a big share of any finds.
and if the permit costs a lot it might not be worth it if you don't find much and they still take most of what you do find View attachment 390685
..... There are plenty of records of the treasure today ....
Conversely, there are "plenty of records" that show that it's not, nor ever was, existing. Have you read wiki article on the subject ?
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yamashita's_gold
Read the paragraphs titled "treasure skeptics".
Also the whole deal about Rogelio Roxas also has "more plausible" explanations to explain away all his claims as well. If you'd like, I can link you to that as well.
Another therory is the American Goverment got to most of the gold first.....
But all of this keeps on assuming that there was even any gold or treasure in the first place.
It has well documented that the Japanese troops looted evey country they invaded cleaning out goverment treasuries, banks ,national treasures any thing of value they could get there hands on. ....
..... The Philippines was a staging place for the Japanes to consolidate all the treasures to send them back to Japan for the war effort. .... .
.... I also wouldn't put a lot of stock in Wikipedia since they have a disclaimer saying Wikipedia makes no gurantee of validity,and is a open content collaborative encylopedia .
FWIW, From the belly button down, I look like that guy on the right...
And such has been the sad history of mankind in ALL the past wars. Looting and sacking of each other's countries has gone on. And sure, sometimes those goodies are found 100s, or 1000's of years later. But to jump from that factoid, to somehow saying "there's a treasure in every cave", is a leap of logic.
This is up for dispute. It is an assumption that is only conjecture. And is, in fact, counter-intuitive. I mean, think about it: JAPAN was the conqueror in this case. The Philippines was only one of their conquered zones. And would have required shipping to this location. Why oh why oh why would they simply not have taken the looted goodies back to their own HOME country ?
Like if you got goodies and had a treasure, don't you take it back to YOUR OWN headquarters ? Rather than squirreling it away at someone else's remote location This has been the bone of contention by those scholars who have challenged this whole notion. I'm sure the "Yamashita faithful" will come up with all sorts of colorful conspiracy theories of how "anything's possible". But just saying that when you ask yourself if there's a "more plausible explanation", you begin to see that the freighting of those plunders to some off-shore colony (as opposed to their own coffers and home-base) it starts to make little sense.
But I'll bet if portions of the material were supporting the alleged treasure, you would certainly subscribe to those portions of the article. Right ? Hence it's just a matter of picking and choosing.
I challenge you to read the portion of the article on the skeptic's view. And FORGET THAT IT'S "WIKI". Instead: Go to the footnotes of the VERY AUTHORS that they are citing for those statements. To get the source material in the bibliography that those statements are coming from. Because it's not "wiki" saying those things. It's drawn from the balanced comments from each side's proponents. And wiki is nothing more than an encyclopedia, where they are simply reporting what the different viewpoints are saying. The footnote sources are right there David.
Well? Yeah...I got short skinny little legs, which has proved to be a benefit in this Sport of picking up pennies. Plus, Most of the fat on my body is from the neck up as these pictures will attest......
I got really wide toes just like Him from going barefoot all the time, seriously.. But, unlike Him, I'm baldheaded and shoot a Remington...thats all I meant here....
Like this guy, I do carry a 2" snubby down the front of my shorts though...Have all my Life! Mint condition! Ive been married for 38yrs! It rarely gets used and hardly ever pulled, maybe 6 times per year! Not even broke in yet!
I can go right up a tree though, like an Opposum, with those feet...