TOKYO (Reuters) - Three Singaporeans were found safe Thursday after getting lost on what they said was a mission to find a legendary karate expert on a snowy mountainside in Japan.
One of the three men told police in Hirosaki, near the northern tip of Japan’s main island, that they had come to Japan after his dying father, a martial arts expert, had ordered them to seek out the karate teacher, TV Asahi said on its Web site.
“Japan looked so small on the world map that we thought we would be able to find him straight away,” one of the group, aged between 25 and 50, was quoted as saying.
All three were dressed in light clothing and huddling in an abandoned car when they were rescued from the slopes of 1,600-meter (5,249-ft) Mount Iwaki in the early hours of the morning after calling for help on a mobile phone, a police spokesman said. “Neither police nor local people know of anyone running karate classes in this area,” the spokesman added.
has anyone heard of this story? Anyone has more info on this?
Hunt for karate legend goes cold
Three Singaporeans on a mission to find a karate legend have been found huddled in an abandoned car on a north Japanese mountainside, local media reports say.
One of the Singaporeans told police in Hirosaki his dying father had told his group to seek the master.
Thirteen people had set out from Singapore but one group became lost on the slopes of Mount Iwaki.
One member told TV Asahi: “Japan looked so small on the map that we thought we would find him straight away.”
Light clothing
Japanese media said the group included the wife of the man who made the dying wish.
The 13 had split into three groups, with another four resting at a hotel.
The three men who got lost telephoned for help from a mobile phone.
Police said they were wearing only light clothing on the mountain, which is 1,600 metres (5,249 feet) high.
“Neither police nor local people know of anyone running karate classes in this area,” the Reuters news agency quoted a police spokesman as saying.
You spelt Singaporeans wrong. And I think it’s in the wrong forums.
Fuck if I ever heard of this in the papers here. It does seem odd that they don’t have a name for this karate master. It actually sounds like those suicide pact things to me.
You were probably being sarcastic but…
TV Asahi is a major Japanese Network (oxymoron) there is also the Asahi Times. I think the Same Keiretsu (conglomerate) owns both not sure about the beer.
He was probably watching them the whole time from the top of a tree. The locals would have never heard of him, because anyone who ever met him is dead.
Maybe he felt sorry for them and decided not to kill them.