SOS incident

Last updated
SOS incident
SOS incident sign.png
Aerial view of the giant SOS sign
Native name SOS遭難事件
Duration10 July 1984 – 28 February 1990
Location Mount Asahi, Daisetsuzan National Park, Hokkaidō, Japan
Type Disappearances, unsolved deaths, unexplained occurrences
CauseUnknown
Outcome Cold case
DeathsAt least 1
Missing
  • Kenji Iwamura, possibly others
  • Two missing hikers rescued

The SOS incident occurred in Mount Asahi in Daisetsuzan National Park in Japan in 1989. Two lost mountaineers were located and rescued after search teams spotted a large SOS message built from fallen birch logs, but the mountaineers had not created this message, which was determined to have been in place since at least 1987. After returning to search the area for more missing people the next day, police found skeletal remains in the vicinity (initially determined to belong to a female) in addition to personal belongings of a presumed-male hiker found stuffed into a tree root not far from the sign. The items included an ID (belonging to Kenji Iwamura, a man who had been missing since 1984), 2 cameras, a notebook, and a tape recorder with tapes featuring a distressed man calling for help. It is still not known who constructed the sign.

Contents

Background

On the afternoon of 24 July 1989, on the path from Mount Kurodake to Mount Asahi of Daisetsuzan National Park, two Tokyo men were lost after mountaineering. While going through the climbing route, they deviated down Mount Asahi, south towards the Chubetsu river. The Hokkaido police searched in a helicopter and ended up finding a giant SOS sign made of 19 birch trees, each roughly 5 meters long. It was built by stacking felled birch trees. The two missing people were soon safely rescued 2–3 km north from the sign. [1] [2] [3] [4]

The Hokkaido police believed that the SOS letters made of wood had been constructed by the two people that they had rescued. However, when the police debriefed the two people about the situation after the rescue, they did not know anything about the SOS sign. The Hokkaido police, who thought that there was another victim, dispatched a helicopter again on the following day and searched the surrounding area. The police discovered fragments of human bones with traces of animal bites. It appeared that some of the bones had been fractured prior to death. In a separate area near the SOS sign, the police discovered a hole just large enough to fit a single human, which included four cassette tapes, a tape recorder, a backpack, some amulets, a human skull, a tripod, a pair of men's basketball shoes, two cameras, a notebook, and the driver's license of Kenji Iwamura, a 25-year-old male office worker from Kōnan, Aichi Prefecture who had gone missing on 10 July 1984 after he set out hiking to Asahidake. When Iwamura failed to appear for work a week later, his parents asked police to search for him, but they found no trace. [1] [2] [3] [4] As of 2024, Iwamura has been missing for 40 years, and police believed that he is deceased.[ citation needed ]

The human bones were sent to Asahikawa Medical University and were identified initially as those of a woman aged 20–40 years. On 27 July, the police decided to play the recordings on the cassette tapes. On one of the recordings, the voice of a young man is heard shouting for 2 minutes and 17 seconds. A translation of the man shouting on the recording is as follows: [5] [4]

SOS, help me, I can't move on the cliff, SOS, help me.
The place is where I first met the helicopter. The sasa [a type of bamboo plant] is deep and you can't go up. Lift me up from here.

The rest of the tapes included music from the anime TV shows, Macross and Magical Princess Minky Momo . In addition, a cutout of artwork of "Magical Princess Minky Momo" was used as a case for the cassette tape. In regards to the SOS sign, the Japan Forestry Agency and the Japan Geographical Authority took a look at previous topographic map data used to find aerial photographs, in which it was confirmed that the SOS sign was in the images taken on 20 September 1987. [6] [7] [8] [5]

An acquaintance of Iwamura gave testimony that Iwamura had been carrying a recording of theme songs on a tape, as well as the same size of basketball shoes that were discovered in the recent search. On the other hand, since the human skeleton was initially identified as a female, it was thought by investigators that there were two men and a woman that had gone missing at the park. However, there was no record of the missing female in Asahidake and Iwamura was said to have gone alone into the mountain. The identity of the woman and the potential relationship to Iwamura was unknown and caused confusion in the investigation and media coverage. [7] [1] [3] [9]

The Asahikawa East police station announced on 28 February 1990 that after a reexamination of all the human bones that were found, they now believed that the skeleton was actually male, not female. [10]

Aspects of the case

Safe Rock Xu Yue Zhi Xia noJin Ku Yan .jpg
Safe Rock

Cause of the incident

There is a large rock nicknamed the "Safe Rock" on the ridge of Mount Asahi which is used as a guidepost. However, there is also a similar large rock nicknamed the "Fake Safe Rock" near the Safe Rock, and if one were to accidentally fall from the Fake Safe Rock they would be in the area where the SOS incident occurred. The slope above the main area is a dense sasa grove that grows sideways. It is easy to enter from the top, but it is difficult to climb from the bottom to the top. There is a cliff where the incident occurred. The terrain is difficult to escape; in fact, a few days after the incident was discovered, a news media interview team who visited the site was unable to escape from the area and had to be rescued. [11] [6]

The SOS sign

The wooden letters of the SOS sign were made by stacking large fallen birch trees, and it was estimated that it took about two days and considerable effort to create such a giant sign. It was speculated that the sign was made by the missing person that the skeleton belonged to, but in the autopsy of the skeleton that was found, who investigators believed was Iwamura, the body was described as thin and weak to the point that it would have been impossible for him to make the sign on his own. No axe that could have been used to cut trees down to make the sign has been found. Some have pointed out that Osamu Tezuka's Astro Boy has a scene in which fallen trees are arranged in the shape of SOS. [8] [12] [5]

SOS tape recording

The purpose of the SOS tape recording is unknown, but it is speculated that the man on the recording, who was stuck, recorded it so that the search team could hear it before he became debilitated and unable to speak. It is also possible that it was accidentally switched on and recorded while the man was yelling for help. Many have speculated that the man yelling was Iwamura, but when Iwamura's parents were asked about the recording, they could not confirm that the voice on the recording was their son's. [9] [8] [12]

See also

Related Research Articles

<i>The Asahi Shimbun</i> Japanese newspaper

The Asahi Shimbun is one of the five largest newspapers in Japan. Founded in 1879, it is also one of the oldest newspapers in Japan and Asia, and is considered a newspaper of record for Japan. Its circulation, which was 4.57 million for its morning edition and 1.33 million for its evening edition as of July 2021, was second behind that of the Yomiuri Shimbun. By print circulation, it is the second largest newspaper in the world behind the Yomiuri, though its digital size trails that of many global newspapers including The New York Times.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Tatsuro Yamashita</span> Japanese musician (b. 1953)

Tatsurō Yamashita, occasionally referred to as Tatsu Yamashita or Tats Yamashita, is a Japanese singer-songwriter and record producer, who is known for pioneering the city pop style of music.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Murder of Junko Furuta</span> 1989 murder of Japanese high school girl

Junko Furuta was a 17-year-old Japanese high school student who was abducted, raped, tortured, and murdered. Her abuse was mainly perpetrated by four male teenagers, Hiroshi Miyano (18), Jō Ogura (17), Shinji Minato (16), and Yasushi Watanabe (17), and took place over a 40-day period starting on 25 November 1988. In Japan, the case is known as the "concrete-encased high school girl murder case", as her body was discovered inside of a concrete-filled drum. The prison sentences served by the perpetrators ranged from 7 to 20 years. The brutality of the case shocked Japan, and it is said to be the worst case of juvenile criminality in the country's post-war history.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Daisuke Gōri</span> Japanese actor, voice actor and narrator

Daisuke Gōri was a Japanese actor, voice actor and narrator from Kōtō, Tokyo. Throughout his life, he was attached to TV Talent Center Tokyo, Yoshizawa Theatre School and then Mausu Promotion; he was attached to Aoni Production at the time of his death. His real name, as well as his former stage name, was Yoshio Nagahori. He was best known for his roles in the Dragon Ball series, the Gundam series, Ninja Scroll, Kinnikuman, Patlabor, Star Fox, Dead or Alive, Tekken, and Soulcalibur – as well as his distinctive deep, booming voice.

Fusako Sano is a Japanese woman who was kidnapped at age nine by Nobuyuki Satō, and held in captivity for nine years and two months from November 13, 1990, to January 28, 2000. In Japan, the case is also known as the "Niigata girl confinement incident".

<i>Awa Tanuki Gassen</i> Japanese legend in the late Edo period

The Awa Tanuki Gassen (阿波狸合戦) is a Japanese legend that takes place in the Awa Province. The legend is about a great war between two tanuki powers.

Shigeru Suzuki is a Japanese musician, songwriter and guitarist. He first became known as a member of the influential rock band Happy End in the early 1970s, before starting a solo career and becoming a prolific session musician. As of 2006, Suzuki had contributed to 588 recordings. In 2019, Suzuki's high school band Skye reunited and released their first album.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">2014 Mount Ontake eruption</span> Fatal volcanic eruption in Japan

A volcanic eruption of Mount Ontake took place on September 27, 2014, killing 63 people. Mount Ontake is a volcano located on the Japanese island of Honshu around 100 kilometres (62 mi) northeast of Nagoya and around 200 km (120 mi) west of Tokyo. It was the first fatal volcanic eruption in Japan since the 1991 eruption at Mount Unzen, and the deadliest volcanic eruption in Japan since Torishima killed an estimated 150 people in 1902.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Setagaya family murder</span> Unsolved Japanese murder case

The Setagaya family murder refers to the unsolved murders of the Miyazawa family in the Kamisoshigaya neighborhood of Setagaya, Tokyo, Japan, on the night of December 30 to 31, 2000.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">2018 Japan floods</span> Heavy rain disaster that occurred in July 2018 in Japan

In late June through mid-July 2018, successive heavy downpours in southwestern Japan resulted in widespread, devastating floods and mudflows. The event is officially referred to as Heisei san-jū-nen shichi-gatsu gōu by the Japan Meteorological Agency. As of 20 July, 225 people were confirmed dead across 15 prefectures with a further 13 people reported missing. More than 8 million people were advised or urged to evacuate across 23 prefectures. It is the deadliest freshwater flood-related disaster in the country since the 1982 Nagasaki flood when 299 people died.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Manatsu Akimoto</span> Japanese television host and actress (born 1993)

Manatsu Akimoto is a Japanese television host, actress, and tarento. She is a former first generation member of the idol girl group Nogizaka46.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Higashi-Ikebukuro runaway car crash</span> 2019 car crash in Tokyo, Japan

The Higashi-Ikebukuro runaway car crash was a traffic crash that occurred on April 19, 2019, in Higashi Ikebukuro, Toshima, Tokyo, resulting in 2 deaths and 9 injuries.

Novel Coronavirus Expert Meeting is a Japanese advisory body established in the New Coronavirus Infectious Diseases Control Headquarters of the Japanese Cabinet.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">COVID-19 pandemic in Tokyo</span> COVID-19 pandemic in Tokyo, Japan

The first case relating to the COVID-19 pandemic in Tokyo, Japan, was confirmed on January 24, 2020, and on February 13, 2020, the first infection of a Tokyo resident was confirmed. On March 26, 2020, the Tokyo Metropolitan Government established the "Tokyo Novel Coronavirus Infectious Diseases Control Headquarters" based on the Act on Special Measures against New Influenza.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">2021 Osaka building fire</span> Suspected arson attack in Osaka, Japan

On 17 December 2021, a fire occurred in a psychiatric clinic located on the fourth floor of the Dojima Kita Building in Kita-ku, Osaka, Japan. The fire is suspected to have been started deliberately. 26 people were killed and a 27th was injured.

Kazu I Sightseeing boat of Japan

The Kazu I was a 19-ton tourist boat operating off the Hokkaido island of Japan, travelling around the Shiretoko Peninsula. The boat was operated by the Shiretoko Pleasure Cruise. The Shiretoko Peninsula, designated a natural World Heritage Site in 2005, is a popular destination for observing drift ice and rare animals.

The Nagakute hostage incident occurred between May 18 and 19, 2007, in Nagakute, Aichi, Japan, when Hisato Obayashi took his ex-wife hostage. The incident lasted for 29 hours and resulted in a SAT member of the Aichi Prefectural Police to be killed in the line of duty, and another officer to be injured alongside Obayashi's ex-wife and children. This incident became the first time a SAT member died in the line of duty.

Real-name reporting is the term used primarily in Japan for the practice of mass media, when reporting an event, to clearly state the real names of the persons or organizations involved or providing information. While some consider it essential to improve the accuracy of news reporting and to monitor public authorities, others are against it from the standpoint of privacy, human rights and other issues, and there is a wide range of debate regarding the reporting of real names.

References

  1. 1 2 3 "北の山中 届かなかった・SOS 近くに白骨、遭難か 北海道・旭岳". 朝日新聞. 1989-07-26.
  2. 1 2 "「SOS」木文字 近くに白骨散乱 大雪山系の湿原 遭難者か". 毎日新聞. 1989-07-26.
  3. 1 2 3 "大雪山系 「SOS」文字 そばに人骨 遭難者か、倒木を並べる". 読売新聞. 1989-07-26.
  4. 1 2 3 "過去の放送内容 【第84回】「山の上の巨大構造物"SOS遭難事件"の真相とは？」(3月1日放送)". 上田晋也のニッポンの過去問 . TBSテレビ. Archived from the original on 2020-09-21. Retrieved 2021-10-02.
  5. 1 2 3 "大雪山遭難 テープ再生 叫び悲痛 2分17秒". 朝日新聞. 1989-07-28.
  6. 1 2 "「SOS」周辺の捜索打ち切り". 毎日新聞（夕刊）. 1989-07-28.
  7. 1 2 "「SOS」ナゾなお深く 女性の骨 男性の靴 結ぶ"線"浮かばず". 朝日新聞. 1989-07-29.
  8. 1 2 3 黒沢哲哉. "虫ん坊 2018年6月号（195 手塚マンガあの日あの時 あんなネタこんなネタ、小ネタコレクション!!". 手塚治虫公式サイト. 株式会社手塚プロダクション. Archived from the original on 2018-06-06. Retrieved 2021-10-02.
  9. 1 2 "Driver's License Found Near SOS on Mountain Slope". July 30, 1989.
  10. ↑ "愛知の男性と断定 「SOS」の人骨". 朝日新聞（夕刊）. 1990-03-01.
  11. ↑ 高橋典子 (2020-09-12). "遭難事故の多い旭岳。なぜ？どこで？実際の事故原因から学ぶ対策方法". YAMA HACK. スペースキー. Archived from the original on 2021-03-02. Retrieved 2021-10-02.
  12. 1 2 山口敏太郎 (2010-04-18). "謎のテープレコーダー 大雪山SOS事件とは". 探偵ファイル～山口敏太郎の怪奇探偵～. Archived from the original on 2013-04-28. Retrieved 2021-10-02.

This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.