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MUSIC 1
MUSIC 2
American Shogun MacArthur


Japanese Imperial Army Officer


Imelda Marcos with Pure Gold Finger
and Lucky Precious  Jaded Buddha

In July 1978
After a trip to Russia,
Imelda arrived in New York and
immediately warmed up for a shopping spree. She started with paying $193,320
for antiques, including $12,000 for a Ming Period side table; $24,000 for a
pair of Georgian mahogany Gainsborough armchairs; $6,240 for a Sheraton
double-sided writing desk; $11,600 for a George II wood side table with marble
top - all in the name of the Philippine consulate to dodge New York sales tax.
That was merely for starters.
A week later she spent $2,181,000.00 in one day! This included $1,150,000 for a
platinum and emerald bracelet with diamonds from Bulgari; $330,000 for a
necklace with a ruby, diamonds, and emeralds; $300,000 for a ring with
heart-shaped emeralds; $78,000 for 18-carat gold ear clips with diamonds;
$300,000 for a pendant with canary diamonds, rubies and emeralds on a gold
chain.
After New York, she dropped by Hong Kong where a Cartier representative
admitted it was this Filipina, Imelda, who had put together the world's largest
collection of gems - in 1978.




Rest in Peace President  Marcos


A U.S. Tank Roaring Under The Gate Of The Once
Impregnable Fort Santiago On February 25th, 1945


Japanese Imperial Gas Mask Recovered
from a Recent Yamashita Treasures Diggings
in the Philippines


Wow So Much Marcos Gold Bars...!!!


One of the Many Sample of
 Yamashita Treasures Maps


JAPS KEEP OUT  in  California & Texas



"The First Members Of The K-9 Corps" to go into
action on Luzon Island, "the dogs were especially trained
to smell out Japs". The soldiers pictured are
T/5 Paul Beancucci, Hartford, Conn./ T/5 EDW Smith,
Cross Plains, Indiana/ T/5 George Hertran, Cedar Ridge,
Colorado/ T/5 Milton Leavitt, Newburyport, Mass. and
T/5 Robert Robertson, Los Angeles, California

Five Japs to his Credit
probably  the Youngest and Proudest Guerilla Fighter in the philippines
Ponciano "Sabu" Arida of Santa Maria Laguna Province has 5 dead
Japs to his Credit, The 11 year old Patriot who fought the Japs throughout
the 3 years of Japanese Occupation of the Philippine Islands is now working
with a Unit of the 43rd Division
April 19 1945



San Miguel Brewery  in 1945


US 38th Division Major General in the Philippine Islands 1945


End of the Line
Leyte  - Japanese Medium Tank Stands wrecked where it was Knocked Out
in a Duel with an American Tank in the Ormoc Area of  Northern Leyte
The Charred body of One of the Japanese Tank Crew lies  In Front of the
Tank. January 5 1945

Yanks Scurry for Cover
Leyte - American Fighters hurry for cover as a Jap Mortar Shell screams over
their heads and strikes in the village of Limon, Leyte. 3 of the US Soldiers in this photo were injured by Shell Fragments
Dec 25 1944



Captured Japanese Imperial Army Navy Flag Philippines 1945


Quiapo Church in 1945


Manila City Hall Damage in1945


Pa and Son Duo Dig to their Dream of Yamashita Treasures
Gold  somewhere in Mindanao Island - Philippines




Yamashita Treasures Gold TOO HEAVY GOLD CARGO ??
Airbus 300



Dead  Japanese Soldier





Victory Liner Bus in 1950's












  Corregidor Island - Philippines

  
Lieut. Col. Donald D. Blackburn,
U.S. Army Commanding Officer, 11th Infantry, USAFIP NL He later became a Brigadier General". For those who don't know, "USAFIP NL" stands for "United States Armed Forces in Philippines, Northern Luzon". The photo shows Blackburn earlier in the war while a major.



Manila American Cemetery, Taguig City, the Philippines - It contains the largest number of graves of our military Dead of World War II, a total of 17,206, most of whom gave their lives in the operations in New Guinea and the Philippines. US Army Air Force Cemetery

Dedication of last surviving boxcar that was used on the Death March at the Capas National Shrine on April 9, 2008.
Courtesy of Jim Litton


A 60th Anniversary memorial ceremony in Tacloban, Philippines, on October 20, 2004


Admiral William F. 'Bill' Halsey - Commander US Third Fleet at Leyte Gulf

The headstone over the mass grave for the men who were executed on Palawan Island by the Japanese.  The grave is at Jefferson Barracks National Cemetery in St. Louis, Missouri.


More than 200 American POWs are burned to death in a Palawan cave


American forces Liberate Cebu 


American Forces Liberate Philippine Islands


B-25 Flown by US MARINE - Zamboanga Mindanao


Japanese Tank formation enters MANILA BANZAI BANZAI 1942


Filipinos Americans Bataan Defender inside the FOXHOLES


Maragondon, Cavite


notable landmarks:
Parish Church of the Assumption of Our Lady
Pico de Loro point
Mt. Marami
Mt. Buntis
Parish Church of the Assumption of Our Lady (Maragondon, Cavite). The church was built in the early 18th century by the Jesuits, with later additions by the seculars and the Augustinian Recollects. Much of the church and belltower, and the lower portion of the convento is made of irregular river stones, indicative of the early level of technology operating at that time.

The intricately-carved retablos, pulpit and church doors (with galleons and floral designs) date from Jesuit times, while the hugely carved beams crossing the nave were installed by the seculars-- one of the beams even carries the name of the indio priest who commissioned them. The unusual horseshoe-shaped communion rail, with a flooring of inlaid wood of various colors, recalls that of San Sebastian Church, Manila, another Recollect construction.

This place is almost 15deg NE, ideal bearing for the paranormal beliefs of the japanese. pag nagtatago sila ng kanilang mga nakulimbat na yaman ng mga bansa. Ayon ng mga matatanda dito ay di kayang bilangin ang mga ssundalong hapon ang nangamatay sa dakong ito , meron silang mga hospital at mga training grounds sa area na ito. Ngayon Ang JICA isang grupo ng mga hapon , Bechtell isang american Firm at si Pangulong Arroyo kasama na ang mga lokal na pamahalaan ang nagsusulong na gawing lanfill ang area na ito. dati gwardyado ng grupo ni marcos ang dakong ito.Ngayon sila naman. until now balikatan joint forces still exercising in this area. ang world bank at si dating pangulong Ramos ay lagi ring nakamonitor sa lugar na ito. Walang ganyanan!
Jet7

1921 Olongapo Fire
Large building or barracks engulfed in fire. Card is posted Jan 14 1921
Olongapo Zambales to Independence Missouri. Sender also notes writng from Olongapo. Among the folks watching the blaze seems to be a US sailor.

American POW died at a Japanese Prisoner of War Camp on Mindanao Island, Philippines.
This photo shows the position in which a white man, emaciated, died while trying to get a drink of water. this was at the Davao Penal Colony Hospital.


1945 American Forces Bomb Corregidor Island

USS Flier (SS-250)
Lost on August 13 1944 with 78 US Navy Submariners killed
Sunk by Japanese Mine South of Palawan in Balabac Strait
(www.Balabac.COM)

USS Harder (SS-257)
Lost August 24 1944 with 74 US Navy Submariners killed.
Sunk by Japanese Luzon Coast Defense Vessel No.22
Off West Coast of Luzon - Philippine Islands


Real Sumatra Indonesian Gold Bars  999.99 Refine Gold  circa 1940s


Yamashita Treasures STONE MARKER


LOS BANOS RESCUE 1


Yamashita Treasures X Stone Marker


10 nice things to say about Marcos
On his 20th death anniversary
By Benjamin Pimentel

CALIFORNIA, United States—Imelda Marcos reportedly expressed hope that someday her late husband also would be honored in the same way, perhaps at a state funeral. Having grown up during, and survived, the Marcos regime, Imelda’s wackiness no longer surprises me. But her wish left me with a jaw-dropping realization: They haven’t buried that dictator!?! This month marks the 20th anniversary of Ferdinand Marcos’s death. He died in exile in Hawaii in September 1989, three years after being chased out of Malacanang. But the dictator’s remains are still lying in a refrigerated crypt somewhere up north. Someone should tell the dictator’s handlers that what he said was, “I do not intend to die,” not “I do not intend to be buried.” Still, in the spirit of reconciliation, and since we have just relived the glorious days of the People Power Revolution, bid farewell to Cory Aquino, and commemorated the martyrdom of Ninoy, it’s perhaps time to also focus on the positive side of the late strongman. Besides, it is also Marcos’s 92nd birthday (September 11) and the 37th anniversary of the imposition of Martial law (September 21). What can I say—September has really been an unlucky month for us. So allow me to present my list—and, believe me, I tried real hard to come up with these—of the 10 nice things one can say about Marcos.

 1. Marcos taught us to disdain bullies. Ferdinand Marcos was not the first, or the last, president to abuse his power. But, certainly, he set a seemingly unbreakable record. The nightmare of his 21 years in power still haunts us today, a powerful, constant reminder of a chapter in our history that must never be repeated.

2. Marcos taught us to disdain leaders who flaunt their wealth. Marcos and Imelda did not invent wealth-flaunting. The elites have been doing that for generations well before he came to power, and it’s still happening today, of course. But the Marcoses certainly took the brazen display of extreme affluence, in the face of extreme poverty, to a new low. I mean how can how one justify owning 3,000 pairs of shoes?

3. Marcos taught us to be suspicious of leaders who acquire wealth. The current president just ran into this problem, of course. And the last one too. Yes, politics is still widely-considered as an easy road to easy money, but too much greed is now generally accepted as dangerous to one’s political career. And we have to give credit to Marcos for this, for making Filipinos extremely suspicious of political leaders who suddenly get rich.

4. Marcos taught us to disdain politicians who brazenly cheat in elections. Now, I said “brazenly.” For yes, election Philippine-style is still dirty. But given our experience with Marcos, there’s a line, especially in national races, that I suspect candidates will not cross for fear of sparking a severe backlash. (Or maybe not.)

 5. Marcos taught us to be suspicious of leaders who warn the nation that because of some unspeakable danger to the country they simply must have more power. “Emergency powers” and “martial law” are two phrases any Philippine president must use with extreme caution nowadays. If not, you run the risk of facing ordinary Filipinos asking: “What was that again Mr./Madame President? You say the communists, the rightists, the terrorists are about to attack? Oh, and the Martians too, perhaps? And that’s why you need to throw all these people in jail, shut down all these newspapers and TV stations and kill those who say you’re a corrupt liar? Sir/Madame, I think we’ve seen this movie before. Napanood na ho ata naming ‘tong sineng ito.”

6. Marcos taught us that there is a big difference between discipline and fear. “Sa Ikauunlad ng Bayan, Disiplina ang Kailangan (For our nation to develop, we need discipline).” That was the regime’s slogan for Marcos’s New Society. It worked for a time, mainly because people knew that by discipline, the dictator meant, “Shut up and submit, or else.” It got so bad that one US official observed that the Philippines in the 70s and 80s had turned into a country of “40 million cowards and one SOB.” Well, Filipinos were willing to let that be the case only for so long.

7. Marcos showed that friendship with powerful world leaders is no guarantee that one can hold on to power indefinitely. Oh, Marcos and Imelda look so happy and proud in photographs with Ronald and Nancy Reagan. They were friends after all. Reagan even sent his Vice President George H.W. Bush to Manila to praise Marcos’ “adherence to democratic principles.” Well, a few years later, the dictator was gone after the Reagan White House finally realized he had turned into a liability.

8. Marcos taught us to be wary of leaders who try to glorify themselves in songs, slogans, or big, ugly monuments. I was actually thrilled when Marcos imposed Martial Law in 1972. I was eight years old when it happened, and for a few weeks I didn’t have to go to school and there was nothing on TV but cartoons. But then, once back in school, my schoolmates and I had to learn these new weird songs about the new order and how everything was great about the regime. And then there’s that gigantic bust up north. I’m glad nobody blew it up as some groups reportedly planned to do. For it stands as a powerful reminder of the twisted mind that once ruled our country.

9. Marcos taught us to be creative—in fighting back. Only in the Philippines could yellow confetti become a symbol of protest. And nuns praying the rosary in front of tanks—you just won’t find such an act of defiance in other places. But even before the People Power Revolt, during the darkest days of dictatorship, Filipinos were already coming up with creative ways to defy the regime. Students at the University of the Philippines used to launch lightning rallies, in which they march from one floor of Palma Hall to another, while yelling slogans and waving banners, and then quickly putting the banners away and dispersing before the cops showed up. Even the artists dared try new things. Take my old boss and drinking buddy, the poet Pete Lacaba, who wrote a seemingly harmless, apolitical poem titled “Prometheus Unbound.” When read vertically, the first letter of every line said, “Marcos, Hitler, Diktador, Tuta”—the famous anti-dictatorship slogan, “Marcos, Hitler, Dictator, Puppet.”

10. Marcos made us laugh and helped demonstrate that, even during dark times, Filipinos can still maintain a healthy sense of humor. Marcos and his crazy war medals. Imelda and her theory of a hole in the sky above the Philippines through which cosmic rays pass to protect the country from disaster. Admit it, Marcos and Imelda made us laugh. If it weren’t for all the people who died and suffered during the regime, we could look back to that time as funny and fun years. Marcos and Imelda jokes kept us entertained even as we endured tyranny. And we didn’t even have cell phones back then for speedy mass distribution. I distinctly remember a classic during one of the rallies after Ninoy’s assassination and Marcos’s face often looked swollen as he reportedly battled lupus. The protest poster read: “Mamaga sana ang mukha ng nagpapatay kay Ninoy. (I hope whoever had Ninoy killed gets a swollen face).” Well, it’s funnier in Tagalog. And without Marcos, what would have happened to Willie Nepomuceno, one of the most talented Filipino humorists ever? He was so good with his Marcos impersonation, that during the critical hours of the 1986 People Power Revolt, when the dictator appeared on TV to prove he was still in charge, there were those who believed it was a ploy—with the popular comedian in the starring role. Of course, Nepomuceno’s career faced a crisis when Marcos was kicked out of the country, and later died. But he quickly bounced back, doing other politicos, including former Presidents Fidel Ramos and Joseph Estrada. Fortunately, like the late tyrant, Willie Nepomuceno did not intend to die. Not much of a list, but can you blame me? It’s tough to say anything nice about a dictator in a freezer. In any case, to Marcos supporters, let me say this: There may never be a grand funeral for the late dictator, with big adoring crowds, a military honor guard, 24/7 TV coverage, and flattering commentary in media. But don’t worry. We will never forget Marcos and what he did to our country. Ever.

ADDENDUM: I spoke too soon. Writer Krip Yuson informs me that someone did blow up the Marcos bust which was heavily damaged by the blast about seven years ago. Krip adds, "A Baguio friend rushed to the site and picked up a bayong of the rubble. I was given two precious pieces, which I keep."







A Beginner's Guide to Exchange Rates and the Foreign Exchange Market

[Exchange Rates - Supply]

Basic econonomic theory teaches us that if the supply of a good increases, and nothing else changes, the price of that good will decrease. If the supply of a country's currency increases, we should see that it takes more of that currency to purchase a different currency than it did before. Suppose there was a big jump in the supply of the Canadian dollar. We would expect to see the Canadian dollar become less valuable relative to other currencies. So the Canadian-to-U.S. Exchange rate should decrease, from 67 cents down to, say, 50 cents. Each Canadian dollar would give us less American dollars than it did before. Similarly, the U.S.-to-Canadian exchange rate would increase from $1.49 to $2.00, so each U.S. dollar would give us more Canadian dollars than it did before, as a Canadian dollar is less valuable than it used to be.

Why would the supply of a currency increase?

Currencies are traded on the foreign exchange market, and the supply of a currency on that market will change over time. There are a few different organizations whose actions will cause a rise in the supply of the foreign exchange market:

Export Companies

Suppose a South African farm sells the cashews it produces to a large Japanese firm. It is likely that the contract will be negotiated in Japanese yen, so the farm will receive its revenue in a currency with limited use outside of Japan. Since the company needs to pay it's employees in the local currency, namely the South African rand, the company would sell its yen on a foreign exchange market and buy rands. The supply of Japanese yen on the foreign exchange market will increase, and the supply of South African rands will decrease. This will cause the rand to appreciate in value (become more valuable) relative to other currencies and the yen to depreciate.

Foreign Investors

A German automobile manufacturer wants to build a new plant in Windsor, ON, Canada. To purchase the land, hire construction workers, etc., the firm will need Canadian dollars. However most of their cash reserves are held in euros. The company will be forced to go to the foreign exchange market, sell some of its euros, and buy Canadian dollars. The supply of euros on the foreign exchange market goes up, and the supply of Canadian dollars goes down. This will cause Canadian dollars to appreciate and euros to depreciate.
Foreign investment does not have to be in tangible goods such as land. If German investors buy Canadian stocks, such as stocks listed on the Toronto Stock Exchange or purchase Canadian dollar bonds, we will have the same situation as above.

Speculators

Like the stock market, there are investors who try to make a fortune (or at least a living) by buying and selling currencies. Suppose a currency investor thinks that the Mexican peso will depreciate in the future, so it will be less valuable than other currencies than it is now. In that case, she is likely to sell her pesos on the foreign exchange market and buy a different currency instead, such as the South Korean won. The supply of pesos goes up and the supply of won goes down. This causes pesos to depreciate, and won to appreciate.

Note the self-fulfilling nature of the beliefs investors hold. If investors feel that a currency will depreciate in the future, they will try to sell it today. Since the currency is being sold by investors, the supply of it will go up, and the price of it will decrease. The investor thought that the currency would depreciate, she acted on that belief and sold her currency, and the act of selling caused the depreciation to take place. Self-fulfilling prophecies such as this one are quite common in economics.

Central Bankers

The central bank of the United States is the Federal Reserve, more commonly known as "The Fed". One of the responsibilities of the Fed is to control the supply, or the amount, of currency in a country. The most obvious way to increase the supply of money is to simply print more currency, though there are much more sophisticated ways of changing the money supply. If the Fed prints more 10 and 20 dollar bills, the money supply will increase. When the government increases the money supply, it is likely some of this new money will make its way to the foreign exchange market, so the supply of U.S. dollars will increase there as well.

A central bank will often directly increase the supply of money on the foreign exchange markets. Central banks like the Fed keep a supply of most (if not all) currencies in reserve and will often use them to influence the exchange rate. If the Fed decides that the U.S. dollar has appreciated in value too much relative to the Japanese yen, it will sell some of the U.S. dollars it has in reserve and buy Japanese yen. This will increase the supply of dollars on the foreign exchange market, and decrease the supply of yen, causing a depreciation in the value of the dollar relative to the yen. Of course, the Fed cannot do this as much as it would like, because it may end up running out of some currencies. As well, the Japanese central bank (named the Bank of Japan) could decide that the Fed is manipulating the price of the yen too much and the Bank of Japan could counteract the Fed by selling yen and by buying dollars.

These are the organizations who will increase the supply of currency on the exchange market. Now we'll investigate the demand side of foreign exchange markets

Why would the demand for a currency increase?

Not surprisingly pretty much the same organizations who caused supply changes will cause demand changes. They are as follows:

Import Companies

A British retailer specializing in Chinese merchandise will often have to pay for that merchandise in Chinese yuan. So if the popularity of Chinese goods goes up in other countries the demand for Chinese yuan will go up as retailers purchase yuan to make purchases from Chinese wholesalers and manufacturers.

Foreign Investors

As before a German automobile manufacturer wants to build a new plant in Windsor, ON, Canada. To purchase the land, hire construction workers, etc., the firm will need Canadian dollars. So the demand for Canadian dollars will rise.

Speculators

If an investor feels that the price of Mexican pesos will rise in the future, she will demand more pesos today. This increased demand leads to an increased price for pesos.

Central Bankers

A central bank might decide that its holdings of a particular currency are too low, so they decide to buy that currency on the open market. They might also want to have the exchange rate for their currency decline relative to another currency. So they put their currency on the open market and use it to buy another currency. So Central Banks can play a role in the demand for currency.

Supply and demand are often thought of as being two sides of the same coin. Here we see that this is the case, as in every transaction there is a buyer and a seller, or in other words, a demander and a supplier.

Now we know what agents can cause price changes and for what reasons. We can use our knowledge to analyze what happens in the "real world". An interesting case is the Canadian-to-American exchange rate. Due to the geographical proximity and economic intergration of the two countries the Canadian-to-American exchange rate is often examined. The sharp decline in the value of the Canadian dollar relative to the American one is widely discussed in the news, so we'll discuss it now.

In January 1990 the Canada-to-U.S. exchange rate was around 85 American cents. Less than nine years later, the Canadian dollar had depreciated to 65 cents. This substantial drop in the value of the Canadian dollar has been quite upsetting to many Canadians. Almost every Canadian spends a large fraction of his/her income on American goods and many take vacations in the United States. Since the savings of most Canadians are in assets priced in Canadian dollars, their savings could now buy much fewer American goods and services. This was particularly noticable to Canadian seniors who spend much of the winter in Arizona and Florida. The following chart shows how the Canadian-to-American exchange rate has declined since 1990:


Now we can see the problem, we can investigate what caused this drop. The rapid decline of the Canadian dollar can be explained by the supply and demand framework illustrated in the previous two sections of this article. Here are three factors which caused a change in supply and/or demand and subsequently a devaluation of the Canadian dollar.
Why is there is a push to get traders into the forex? Well, because every financial transaction that takes place will be taxed. The Tobin Tax/Financial Tax will be law by 2010 or very soon after. The taxes generated will be in the billions. Transactions taking place today are at about two to three trillion dollars traded per day.

Tobin Tax ~ articles ~ link

LINKS TO ARTICLES - TOBIN TAX - FINANCE TAX

Its long trading hours: 24 hours a day except on weekends (from 22:00 UTC on Sunday until 22:00 UTC Friday),

What is Currency Trading?

The Currency trading market is a multi trillion dollar market where world currencies are exchanged back and forth on a daily basis.

How is currency trading done?

Retail currency trading is typically done through brokers and market makers. Traders can place trades through their brokers who will in turn place a corresponding trade on the interbank market.

Why do currency values change?

Currency values can change for many reasons. Sometimes they react to political and economic news, sometimes they are driven by speculators, and sometimes they are driven by international business flows. If companies in the United States are importing large quantities of products made in Europe, they will need to exchange their US Dollars for Euros to pay for the products. When this is done in very large quantity over a short period of time, it raises the demand for Euros and the value of the Euro versus the US Dollar increases. This happens because dollars are being sold on the open market, while Euros are being bought.

Is currency trading risky?

Currency trading can be very risky. Currencies tend to be very volatile compared to other markets. The real key to success with currency trading is to use conservative risk management. There are many components to effective currency risk management, but the bottom line is to use caution and have a trading plan.

Who trades currencies?

Currencies are traded by individual retail investors, financial institutions, and corporations doing business. Retail investors and banks are trade to make profits and corporations usually trade in the normal course of the international business process.

Currencies are the money of different countries, and currency trading is the buying and selling of these currencies. There are almost as many different currencies as there are countries, but the most popular currencies for trading are the US Dollar, the Euro, the British Pound (Sterling), and the Japanese Yen. The currency markets are some of the most popular day trading markets, and they therefore have some of the highest volume (number of contracts) and liquidity. This high volume and liquidity makes the currency markets attractive to all types of traders, including individual day traders, trading companies, financial and non financial companies, banks, and governments.

There are several different ways of trading currencies, and even non traders are familiar with one form of currency trading. When people go on holiday to a different country they often need to exchange their local currency for the currency of the destination country. For example, a tourist from the US would need to exchange their US Dollars for Mexican Pesos if they went to Mexico on holiday. This exchange would be processed via a currency broker (such as a bank), and the transaction would become part of the currency markets. This type of currency trading is not suitable for professional traders, so two other forms of currency trading are used by day traders.

Forex (FOReign EXchange)
Forex trading is one of the most popular ways of trading the currency markets. Forex markets trade the actual exchange rate between two currencies. For example, the most popular Forex market is the Euro to US Dollar exchange rate (EUR to USD), which trades the value of 1 Euro in US Dollars. There are Forex markets for most of the major currencies, including the following :

EUR -> USD - The Euro to US Dollar exchange rate
GBP -> USD - The British Pound (Sterling) to US Dollar exchange rate
EUR -> GBP - The Euro to British Pound exchange rate
CAD -> USD - The Canadian Dollar to US Dollar exchange rate
AUD -> USD - The Australian Dollar to US Dollar exchange rate
EUR -> CHF - The Euro to Swiss Franc exchange rate

As the Forex markets are global markets, they trade 24 hours per day from Monday morning in New Zealand (Sunday night in the US) until Friday night in Asia (also Friday night in the US). Forex markets are different from most day trading markets in that they are not provided by an exchange. Forex markets are decentralized markets, where all trades are directly between two traders (or a trader and a Forex broker). This means that there could be several different exchange rates for the same currencies, depending upon factors such as the location of the traders, and the brokers being used.

Forex markets trade the currencies directly (rather than trading contracts), and the minimum amount that can be traded is known as a lot. The size of a lot is dependant upon the Forex broker being used, but is commonly at least $25,000. This amount is usually margined, so individual traders do not need to have anywhere near the lot size in their trading account, and will borrow most of the lot size from their Forex broker instead.

Currency Futures
Currency futures are futures markets that are based upon the currency markets. Currency futures markets trade futures contracts that reflect the exchange rates of two currencies. For example, the most popular currency futures market is the EUR futures market, which is based upon the Euro to US Dollar exchange rate. The most popular currency futures are provided by the CME Group (formerly the Chicago Mercantile Exchange), and include the following futures markets :

EUR - The Euro to US Dollar futures market
GBP - The British Pound (Sterling) to US Dollar futures market
CAD - The Canadian Dollar to US Dollar futures market
CHF - The Swiss Franc to US Dollar futures market

As they are futures markets, currency futures are provided by an exchange. This means that they have centralized pricing (and clearing), so the market price is the same regardless of the brokerage being used. Currency futures markets also trade 24 hours per day from Sunday night until Friday night in the US, so they are accessible to traders worldwide, even though all of the trades go through the same exchange.

Currency futures trade futures contracts that are worth a specific amount of the underlying currency. For example, the EUR futures contract is worth $125,000. The contract specifications for each currency futures market specifies the contract value, and other trading information such as the minimum price change (tick size) and the price change value (tick value).

Forex or Futures
Even though both the Forex markets and the currency futures markets are based upon the same underlying financial markets, there are some significant differences that make one or the other the best choice for day trading. The Forex markets have very large liquidity (amount of money traded) so they can absorb very large trades (millions of dollars) without the market being affected, whereas the currency futures can only absorb a certain number of contracts (usually less than 100) before the market becomes affected by the trade. On the other hand, the currency futures markets are regulated markets, so they are not susceptible to price fixing (also known as market making).

Unless you have several million dollars that you want to trade with, or you want to convert one currency to another indefintely (i.e. not convert it back again), the currency futures markets are the best choice for individual day traders. The two most popular currency futures markets are the EUR (Euro to US Dollar futures market), and the GBP (British Pound to US Dollar futures market), and complete information about these (and other) markets (including their contract specifications) can be found in their market profiles.

Currency markets (also known as forex markets) are the largest day trading markets (in terms of volume and amount of money), trading approximately $2 trillion per day. Currency markets are the markets where one currency is traded for another currency, such as trading the Euro for the US Dollar. The majority of currency trading is between central banks, commercial banks, and large companies, with the largest currency trader currently being Deutsche Bank in Europe, but the currency markets are also traded by individual day traders.

Currency markets are unique in that they are not traded at exchanges, but are traded directly between traders instead. There are several large currency trading centers, with London in Europe, New York in the US, and Tokyo in Japan, being the largest.

Popular Currency Markets
Some of the most popular currency markets are the following :

EUR / USD - The Euro to US Dollar exchange rate
GBP / USD - The British Pound to US Dollar exchange rate (also known as cable)
USD / JPY - The US Dollar to Japanese Yen exchange rate
CHF / USD - The Swiss Franc to US Dollar exchange rate
EUR / GBP - The Euro to British Pound exchange rate
AUD / USD - The Australian Dollar to US Dollar exchange rate
CAD / USD - The Canadian Dollar to US Dollar exchange rate
EUR / CHF - The Euro to Swiss Franc exchange rate

Exchange Rate Spreads
Most people are familiar with the difference (or spread) between the buying and selling exchange rates that they get when they exchange foreign currencies at a bank (e.g. when they go on holiday). For example, using the EUR / USD exchange rate, the difference would be several percentage points, which in real prices could be from 1.2500 to 1.2800, which in currency trading terms would be 300 pips (calculated as (1.2800 - 1.2500) / 0.0001). Day trading spreads are much lower, and would be more like a fraction of a percentage point, or 1.2500 to 1.2503, or only 3 pips (calculated as (1.2503 - 1.2500) / 0.0001). Some traders are attracted to the currency markets by the difference between the retail and trading spreads, but note that the currency futures markets have an even lower spread (usually the equivalent of 1 pip).

Currency Brokers
Day traders can access the currency markets via the same direct access brokerages that they use for other markets, but should be aware that their trades are not being processed by an exchange, but by a currency broker instead. These currency brokers are allowed to make their own markets, which means that traders using one currency broker will not necessarily see the same prices as those traders using a different currency broker. In addition, some of the more unscrupulous currency brokers actively trade against their traders, and will prevent their traders from getting the best possible price, while taking the extra profit for themselves. It is common for currency brokers to not charge commissions for currency trades, as they will take some of the spread as their commission instead.

Symbols and Tick Values
Currency market trading symbols are constructed using the two currencies that are being traded. For example, the trading symbol for the Euro to US Dollar market would be EUR/USD. Each currency market has a minimum price change (tick size), and a minimum trading amount, with which the value per minimum price change can be calculated. Continuing with the EUR/USD currency market, the minimum price change is 0.0001, and the minimum trading amount is approximately $25,000 (this varies depending upon the currency broker), so the value per minimum price change is calculated as 0.0001 X $ 25000 = $2.50. This means that for every 0.0001 in price change, a trade's profit or loss would change by $2.50. Even though the minimum trading amount is $25,000 or more, the currency markets are traded using leverage, so an individual day trader only needs to have a fraction of that amount in their trading account.

Trading Recommendation
While the currency markets can be day traded, they have some features that make them a less preferred day trading market. If you want to trade the currency markets purely for day trading purposes, then the futures markets offer enough markets based upon currencies, that you should trade the futures markets instead. If however, you want to trade currencies to actually hold the other currency (i.e. if you want to keep some money in Euros), then the currency markets are the markets to trade.



   
 
  • FOR SALE  Lists of 80+ Japanese Codes 
  • On 15th of October 1944, the US 7th Fleet & Transport head for the Philippines over 700 ships. Aboard more than 200,000 men of the US Sixth Army under the command of General Douglas MacArthur,who must deliver the one two punch to liberate the Philippines,this is part of his famous promise " I SHALL RETURN "





    • Japanese Marines use Flame Thrower against American Filipino Army Bunker in the Battle of  Bataan 1942


  • Dec 10 1941
  • Japanese invasion of Philippines and Guam commences
    • USS Sealion (SS-195) lost: Air attack Cavite Navy Yard   
  • Dec 21 1941
    •
  • US submarines based in Manila withdraw to Surabaya, Java
  • Jan 2 1942
    •
  • Japan captures Manila
  • Jan 27 1942
  • USS Seawolf delivers 37 tons of .30cal ammo to Corregidor. Evacuates 25 pilots, spare sub parts and 16 torpedoes
  • Feb 03 1942
  • USS Trout delivers 3500 rounds of 3" AA ammo to Corregidor. Evacuates 20 tons of Philippine Gold and Philippine Silver.
  • Feb 04 1942
  • USS Seadragon evacs 21 army-navy personnel, 23 torpedoes, spare sub parts and radio equipment from Corregidor
  • Feb 14 1942
  • USS Sargo delivers 1 million rounds of .30 cal ammo to Mindanao, evacs 24 Army personnel
  • Feb 20 1942
  • USS Swordfish assists in the evacuation of Philippine President Quezon and a party of 9 to San Jose, Panay.
  • Feb 24 1942
  • USS Swordfish evacs American High Commissioner of the Philippines and a party of 12, plus 5 navy enlisted personnel
  • Feb 28 1942
  • USS Permit delivers her allowance of ammo to Corregidor. Evacs 31 US Navy personnel. Recovers 3 torpedoes
  • April 9 1942
  • US forces on Bataan surrender
  • April 1-10 1942
  • USS Swordfish departs on patrol with 40 tons of food supplies for Corregidor. Unable to deliver due to the surrender of Bataan
  • April 2-10 1942
  • USS Searaven departs on patrol with 3" ammo for Bataan and Corregidor. Unable to deliver due to the surrender of Bataan.
  • April 5 1942
  • USS Snapper delivers 20 tons of food to Corregidor. Evacs 27 Army-Navy personnel
  • April 8  1942
  • USS Seadragon delivers 20 tons of food to Corregidor, evacs 22 Army-Navy personnel
  • May 6 1942
  • US forces on Corregidor surrender
  • April 18 1943
  • Yamamoto killed after US air attack
  • September 20 1944
  • US invasion of Philippines commences
    •

    Yamashita Tomoyuki's Last Message to the Japanese People

    "Due to my carelessness and personal crassness, I committed an inexcusable blunder as the
    commander of the entire [14th Area] Army and consequently caused the deaths of your precious sons and dearest husbands. I am really sorry and cannot find appropriate words for sincere apologies as I am really confused because of my excruciating agony. As the commander of your beloved men, I am soon to receive the death penalty, having been judged by rigorous but impartial law. It is a strange coincidence that the execution is to be carried out on the birthday of the first U.S. president, George Washington.
    I do not know how to express my apology, but the time has come to atone for my guilt with my death. However, I do not think that all the crimes for which I am responsible can easily be liquidated simply by my death. Various indelible stains that I left on the history of mankind cannot be offset by the mechanical termination of my life.
    For a person like me who constantly faced death, to die is not at all difficult. Of course I should have committed suicide when I surrendered, as ordered by the emperor in accordance with the Japanese code of the samurai. In fact, I once decided to do so when I attended the surrender ceremonies at Kiangan and Baguio, at which General Percival, whom I had defeated [in Singapore], was also present. What prevented me from committing such an egocentric act was the presence of my soldiers, who did not yet know that the war was over at that time. By refusing to take my own life, I was able to set my men free from meaningless deaths, as those stationed around Kiangan were ready to commit suicide. I really felt pain from the shame of remaining alive,
    in violation of the samurai's code of "dying at the appropriate time in an appropriate place." I therefore can imagine how much more difficult it is for people like you to remain alive and re-build Japan rather than being executed as a war criminal. If I were not a war criminal, I would still have chosen a difficult path, bearing shame to stay alive and atone for my sins until natural death comes, no matter how you all might despise me.
    Sun Tzu said 'The art of war is of vital importance to the State. It is a matter of life and death, a road either to safety or to ruin. Hence it is a subject of inquiry which can on no account be neglected.' From these words, we learn that our military forces were lethal weapons and their very existence was a crime. I tried my best to prevent the war. I am really ashamed of having been unable to do so because of my weakness. You may think that I am a born aggressor and a typical militarist, because my campaign in Malaya and the fall of Singapore excited the entire Japanese nation. I understand that this is quite natural. I do not excuse myself, as I was a professional soldier and dedicated myself to the military. But even while being a military man, I also have a relatively
    strong sense as a Japanese citizen. There is no resurrection any longer for the ruined nation
    and the dead. From ancient times, war has always been a matter for exceptional prudence by wise rulers and sensible soldiers. It was entirely due to our military authorities' arbitrary decisions, which were made by just a handful of people, that a large number of our people died and the rest of the nation was dragged into its present unbearable suffering. I feel as if my heart will break when I think that we professional soldiers will become the object of your bitter resentment. I believe that the Potsdam Declaration will wipe out the leaders of military cliques who led the nation to its downfall, and Japan will start rebuilding as a peaceful nation under new leaders elected by the popular will. However, the path of rebuilding the nation will not be easy in the face of many obstacles.
    The experience that you went through, enduring various difficulties and poverty in the last ten years of war, will inevitably give you some strength, even though it was as an unwelcome result of pressure from the military authorities. To construct a new Japan, you really must not include militarists who are the relics of the past or opportunistic unprincipled politicians, or scholars patronized by the government who try to rationalize an aggressive war. Probably some appropriate policies will be adopted by the Allied Occupation Forces. But I would like to say something on this point, as I am just about to die and thus have great concern about Japan's future. Weeds have a strong life force, and grow again when spring comes, no matter how hard they are trodden underfoot. I am confident that, with strong determination for development, you will rebuild our nation now completely destroyed, and make it a highly cultured one like Denmark. Denmark lost its fertile land in Schleswig-Holstein as the result of the German-Denmark
    War in 1863, but gave up rearming themselves and made their infertile areas into one of the most cultured of European nations. As a ruined people, we repent having done wrong. I will pray for Japan's restoration from a grave in a foreign country.
    Japanese people, you have expelled the militarists and will gain your own independence. Please stand up firmly after the ravages of war. That is my wish. I am a simple soldier. Faced with execution in a very short time, a thousand emotions overwhelm me. But in addition to apologizing, I want to express my views on certain matters. I feel sorry that I cannot express myself very well, because I am a man of action, reticent and with a limited vocabulary. The time of my execution is drawing near. I have only one hour and forty minutes left. Probably only convicts on death row are capable of comprehending the value of one hour and forty minutes. I asked Mr. Morita, a prison
    chaplain, to record these words and I hope he will pass my ideas on to you some day.
    Facing death, I have four things to say to you, the people of the nation of Japan as it resurrects. First, is about carrying out one's duty. From ancient times, this topic has repeatedly been discussed by scholars, yet it remains most difficult to achieve. Without a sense of duty, a democratic and cooperative society cannot exist. Duty has to be fulfilled as a result of self-regulating and naturally motivated action. I feel some misgivings in thinking about this, considering that you are suddenly to be liberated from the social restraints under which you have long lived.I often discussed this with my junior officers. The moral decay of our military was so grave that the Imperial Code of Military Conduct as well as the Field Service Code were simply dead letters.Therefore, we had to remind people of this all the time, even in the military where obedience was strongly demanded and defying orders was not allowed at all. In this war, it was far from true that officers under my command carried out their duties satisfactorily. They were unable to fulfill even the duties that were imposed upon them. Therefore I have some concern over your ability to fulfill your duty voluntarily and independently, after being released from long-standing social restraints. I wonder if you'll be dazzled by suddenly bestowed freedom, and whether some may fail to carry out your duty as required in relations with others, as you've received basically the same education as military men. In a free society, you should nurture your
    own ability to make moral judgments in order to carry out your duties. Duties can only be carried out correctly by a socially mature person with an independent mind and with culture and dignity. The fundamental reason why the world has lost confidence in our nation, and why we have so many war-crime suspects who left ugly scars on our history, was this lack of morals. I would like you to cultivate and accept the common moral judgment of the world, and become a people who fulfill duties on your own responsibility. You are expected to be independent and carve out your own future. No one can avoid this responsibility and choose an easy way. Only through that path can eternal peace be attained in the world.Second, I would like you to promote education in science. No one can deny that the level of Japan's modern science, apart from certain minor areas, is well below world standards. If you travel outside Japan, the first thing you notice is the unscientific way of life of the Japanese. To search for truth with Japan's irrational and cliquish mentality is like searching for fish among the trees. We soldiers had great difficulties in securing the necessary materials to fight and to make up for
    the lack of scientific knowledge. We tried to fight against the superior forces of the United States and to win the war by throwing away the priceless lives of our nation as substitutes for bullets and bombs. Various methods of horrendous suicide attack were invented. We exposed our pilots to danger by stripping vital equipment from the planes in order to just slightly improve their mobility. This shows how little knowledge we had for conducting war. We made the greatest mistake -- unprecedented in world history -- by trying to make up for the lack of materials and scientific knowledge with human bodies.
    My present state of mind is quite different from that at the time of surrender. In the car on the way to Baguio from Kiangan, Mr. Robert MacMillan, a journalist of the magazine Youth asked, what I thought was the fundamental reason for Japan's defeat. Something suppressed for a long time in my sub-consciousness suddenly burst out and I instantly responded "science," before referring to other important issues. This was because my long-lasting frustration and intense anger were loosened all at once when the war was over.
    I am not saying that this is the only reason, but it was clearly one important reason for Japan's defeat. If there will be another war somewhere in the world (although I hope there won't be), it is expected end in a short time through the use of horrific scientific weapons. The foolish methods of war that Japan adopted will be regarded as the illusions of an idiot. Human beings throughout the world, I presume, will make efforts to prevent such a terrible war -- not just the Japanese who thoroughly endured the horror of this war. This is the task that is given to humanity. The atomic bombs dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki were horrendous weapons. Never before have so many people been killed instantly in the long history of slaughtering human beings. As I have been in prison, I have not had enough time to study the A-bomb, but I think that no weapon
    will be invented to defend against atomic weapons. It used to be said that it would always be possible to fight against a new method of attack. This is still true. If there is any method to defend against atomic bombs -- the weapon that has made obsolete all past warfare -- it would simply be to create nations all over the world that would never contemplate the use of such weapons. A defeated officer like me reflects sadly that if we had had superior scientific knowledge and sufficient scientific weapons, we would not have killed so many of our own men. Instead we could have sent them back home to use the knowledge as the foundation to rebuild a glorious and peaceful country. However, the science that I mean is not science that leads mankind to destruction. It is science that will develop natural resources still to be tapped, that will make human life rich, and will be used for peaceful purposes to free human beings from misery and poverty.Third, I want to mention the education of women. I have heard that Japanese women have been liberated from the feudal state authorities and been given the privilege of suffrage. From my experience
    of living in foreign countries for a long time, I can say that the position of modern Japanese
    women is inferior to that of women in the west. I am slightly apprehensive about the fact that freedom for Japanese women is a generous gift from the Occupation Forces, not one that they struggled to acquire themselves. A gift is often enjoyed as an object of appreciation and not actually put to direct use. The highest virtues for Japanese
    women used to be "obedience" and "fidelity." That was no different from "obedient allegiance" in the military. A person who respects such castrated and slave-like virtues has been called a "chaste woman" or praised as a "loyal and brave soldier." In such values, there is no freedom of action or freedom of thought, and they are not the virtues by which one can self-examine autonomously. My hope is that you will break out of your old shell, enrich your education, and become new active Japanese women, while maintaining only the good elements of existing values. The driving force for peace is the heart of women. Please utilize your newly gained freedom effectively and appropriately. Your freedom should not be violated or taken away by anyone. As free women, you should be united with women throughout the world and give full play to your unique abilities as
    women. If not, you will be squandering all the privileges that you have been given.
    Finally, there is one more thing that I would like to tell women -- you are either already a mother or will become a mother in future. You should clearly realize that one of a mother's responsibilities is a very important role in the "human education" of the next generation.
    I have always been unhappy about the idea that modern education begins at school. The home is the most appropriate place for educating infants and the most appropriate teacher is the mother. You alone can lay the foundation for education in its true meaning. If you do not want to be criticized as worthless women, please do your best in educating your own children. Education does not begin at kindergarten or on entry to elementary school. It should begin when you breastfeed a newborn baby. It is a mother's privilege to have a special feeling that no one else can have when she cuddles and breastfeeds her baby. Mothers should give their love to their baby both physically and mentally, as they are the baby's source of life. Breastfeeding can be done by another, and nourishment can be provided by other animals, or can be substituted for by a bottle. Yet nothing
    else can substitute for mother's love. It is not enough for a mother to think only about how to keep her children alive. She should raisethem to be able to live independently, cope with various circumstances, love peace, appreciate cooperation with others and have a strong desire to contribute to humanity when they grow up. You should raise the joyful feeling of breastfeeding to the level of intellectual emotion and refined love. Mother's love will constantly flow into her baby's body through breastfeeding. The fundamental
    elements of future education must exist in embryo in mother's milk. Attention to the baby's
    needs can be the basis for education. Untiring mothering skills should naturally develop into a higher level of educational skill. I am not a specialist on education and therefore I am not sure how appropriate it is, but I would like to call this kind of education "breastfeeding education." Please bear this simple and ordinary phrase in your mind. These are the last words of the person who took your children's lives away from you."
    **********************
    These words were dictated to a Buddhist Priest, in Los Banos, Laguna, in the final hours of Gen.Yamashita's life. Gen. Yamashita was commander of the 25th Imperial Army, which committed the numerous Chinese Massacres in Malayasia and Singapore, as well as the Massacres of other Asians, and allied POWs in 1942, in Malaysia and Singapore.
    In late, 1944 and early, 1945, the 14th Area Japanese Military, under the command of Gen. Yamashita, committed the Manila Massacre, the Batangas/Laguna Massacres, and numerous other massacres of innocent civilians, suspected guerrillas (Zonification) and POWs in the Philippines. You may judge his own words versus the record and behavior of the the armies he commanded.


    Japanese looking guy in Philippines Searching his own Secret Yamashita Treasures stash?




    CODE NAME: GOLDEN LILY PROJECT

      In 1936, it is said, Emperor Hirohito realised that a new world war is coming. He foresaw that to defeat the United States would require extraordinary military forces backed by unprecedented financing. He organised a special team to confiscate the wealth of Asia, overseen by his brother Prince Chichibu. The latter's organisation was code-named kin no yuri, or 'Golden Lily', the title of one of the emperor's poems. Other princes headed different parts of Golden Lily across the conquered territories. One of these was Prince Takeda Tsuneyoshi, one of Hirohito's first cousins and grandson of the Emperor Meiji, who is said to have been ultimately responsible for seeing that all the gold in the Philippines was buried. Vast wealth The first major project of this group – the rape of Nanking – was only the tip of the iceberg. As the Japanese imperial army swept through China and occupied virtually all of south-east Asia, it seized over 4,000 years' worth of stored gold, silver, precious gems and works of art. Much of Europe's vast wealth had also been secretly placed in Japan's path. This included moving many of the national treasures of the Netherlands to the Dutch East Indies (now Indonesia), those of France to Indochina (now Vietnam) and those of Britain to Singapore. All fell to Japan.

    Japanese Marines Lands on Corregidor Island - circa 1942


     Meanwhile, so the story goes, expert Golden Lily teams systematically emptied treasuries, banks, factories, private homes, pawn shops and art galleries, and stripped ordinary people of what little they had, while Japan's top gangsters looted Asia's underworld and its black economy. Golden Lily agents silently and efficiently swept up the spoils, refined most of the precious metals and began transporting them. Strategic importance Field Marshall Count Terauchi commanded the Japanese imperial forces in the south-eastern Pacific. He sent orders to Admiral Masaharu (military commander of the Philippines before Yamashita) and several other admirals and generals (including Yamashita) saying that all war booty taken from their respective occupied territories – Java, Sumatra, Singapore, Malaya, Thailand, Burma and northern India – should be collected and transferred to Japan. However, from the end of 1943, the great bulk of the World War II treasures was sent to the Philippines, as the shipping lanes to Japan became too dangerous due to patrolling American Naval Submarine vessels. American Submarine had sank so many Japanese Merchant Vessels Laden with Gold and Diamonds and other precious Gems Japan had always appreciated the strategic military importance of the Philippines. More importantly, the Japanese imperial forces had a major post-war plan in which the Philippine archipelago was to play an important role. When the war was over, they would withdraw their forces from all other Asian countries but try to maintain their rule over the Philippines. Japan wanted to keep Philippine Islands Ethnic survival To this end, the Japanese proposed, under the banner of 'Asia for Asians', some reforms in the guise of nationalism. (The Philippines had been owned by the United States since being ceded by Spain at the end of the Spanish-American War in 1898.) And, in 1943, in the hope of winning over the Filipinos, they went as far as setting up a Filipino 'republic', installing a puppet government with the judge José Laurel as president. By winning over the people's hearts and, later, granting them 'independence', the Japanese forces hoped that they would be regarded as 'heroes'. This would allow them to have military bases on the islands on the pretext of protecting the Filipino people. In this way, they could remain in the Philippines for as long as they liked and to excavate the stolen loot at their leisure.

    The quantity of gold and other treasures buried was phenomenal.  Japanese cartographers made maps of each site and trusted accountants marked them with three digits signifying the Yen values of the gold, diamonds and other assets buried in each. 

    A site bearing the designation “777” was valued at 777 billion yen.  With 1945 exchange rates fluctuating between 3.50 and 4.00 yen to the dollar, just one triple seven site was worth almost US$200 billion – a king’s ransom by any measure.  There were many triple seven (“777”) sites as well as triple nine and lesser sites.   

    Not only were these figures based on 1945 values -- when a dollar was really a dollar – but also when the price of gold was $35.00 an ounce.  Today the price of gold is closer to $300 an ounce.  But add to this the fact that in the Philippines alone there were over 170 burial sites, and a picture forms of a wealth so unimaginable that it almost defies belief 

    With the defeat of Japanese forces in the Philippines in 1945, a project of the utmost secrecy was launched to recover the buried Golden Lily plunder.  This project was placed under the day-to-day control of Captain Edward Lansdale and OSS operative Severino Garcia Santa Romana.  In 1945, Lansdale had been ordered to Manila as part of General Willoughby’s G2 military intelligence team.  On arrival, Lansdale met up with Santa Romana and set to work.  The CIA would later recruit both officers.  




    Japanese Imperial Army Captured Corregidor Island Guns 1942
     
     The Japanese strongly believed that they would be able to keep the Philippines as a concession for peace, then use the vast wealth hidden there to rebuild their empire. Thus, the relocation of the enormous shipments of war treasure to the Philippines was seen as Japan's only hope of ethnic survival. However, it didn't work out – the Americans invaded the Philippines in October 1944. Intricate tunnels Before the US invasion, the Japanese forces were busy hiding and securing the stolen loot. Elaborate tunnels were dug, some to depths of hundreds of feet, to the final 'storage chambers'. Many of these tunnels were excavated just below the water table during the dry season, which meant that they would eventually fill with water – a deterrent to any future salvagers. And if that were not enough, most if not all of the tunnels were booby-trapped with 1,000- and 2,000-lb bombs and poisonous gas. In most cases, PoW labour was used to dig the intricate tunnelling systems. In all cases, when securing the gold in the pits was completed, the PoWs were executed and buried along with the treasures. In rare cases, Japanese officers even had their own soldiers killed and buried along with the treasure, to protect the secret locations.


    NO JAPS WANTED GRAFFITI   IN   TEXAS & CALIFORNIA 1942









    When the Americans invaded Philippines, there was still much treasure remaining to be buried. Japanese forces took it with them during their retreat and interred it in many different locations.


    In the Philippines, there are said to be 172 'documented' official Japanese imperial burial sites (138 on land and 34 in deliberately scuttled ships), not to mention the numerous instances of World War II loot buried by greedy officers and renegade soldiers. The worth of all this booty is estimated to be as much as $3 billion at 1940 rates – the equivalent of over $100 billion today. According to various post-war estimates, the gold bullion alone totals 4,000 to 6,000 tons. Clandestine operation What happened next often reads like the most unbelievable James Bond thriller. A great many facts have been accumulated, maps have been found, witnesses have sworn their testimonies, but the truth remains shrouded in mystery and lies. For instance, it is said that, in October 1945, American intelligence agents learned where some of the Japanese loot was hidden. Agents of the OSS (forerunner of the CIA) watched as Japanese troops buried treasure on the island of Luzon. They began a clandestine recovery operation that lasted until 1948. This was headed by a Filipino-American OSS – and later CIA – officer, Severino Garcia Santa Romana. Santa Romana, in turn, worked under the watchful eye of the CIA operative General Edward Lansdale, who would later become embroiled in the abortive CIA invasion of Cuba during the Kennedy administration. General William Donovan, head of the OSS, knew of the Lansdale-Santa Romana recoveries, as did General Douglas MacArthur, and former US president Herbert Hoover. So, too, did Cold War warrior and later head of the CIA Allen Dulles. President Truman may also have been in the charmed circle of those who were in the know. The OSS/CIA had no intention of returning any of the plunder to its rightful owners. Instead, Santa Romana set up numerous front companies to launder the secretly recovered gold bullion. This is supposed to have become the basis of the CIA's 'off the books' operational funds during the immediate post-war years, used to create a world-wide anti-Communist network. Imelda Marcos, widow of disgraced Filipino president Ferdinand Marcos: did she benefit from her husband's theft of some of the lost gold? Legal actions and law suits Researchers have, they say, obtained evidence of Golden Lily loot from straightforward legal actions in the US. These include examining Santa Romana's will and verifying his tax records. Legal evidence of his fortune deposited in the US, Switzerland, Hong Kong and elsewhere supposedly provides hard proof that the world is awash with clandestine bank accounts growing out of Golden Lily. Other lawsuits in the US provide proof to enthusiasts that Golden Lily war loot was indeed hidden in the Philippines. Rogelio Roxas, a Filipino locksmith, is said to have found a one-tonne solid-gold Buddha and thousands of gold bars in a tunnel near Baguio in 1971, only to have them stolen by President Ferdinand Marcos. Roxas subsequently died in suspicious circumstances, leading some to believe that he was murdered. In 1996, a US Federal Court in Hawaii awarded his heirs a judgment of $22 billion against the Marcos estate. (This was later massively reduced on appeal.) Relentless pursuit Despite all the disappointments and dead-ends, the fortune hunters remain undaunted. In a nation where the average annual income is $1,000, it is hardly surprising that, for the past 55 years, hundreds of Filipinos have also been busy looking for the lost treasure. In fact, dozens have died digging up roads, riverbeds and mountainsides in a relentless pursuit of the Yamashita gold. For example, in late 2000, two men were buried alive when a tunnel collapsed near the Mindanao town of General Santos after they had dug as far as 24 feet (7.3 metres). Four others suffocated in Lumban, Laguna. And in 1998, three men were killed in Nueva Ecija in Luzon province when a tunnel they had dug caved in. As many of these projects have ended in failure, a side industry has emerged based on the fever itself. Foreign investors are often enticed into funding the digging of holes known to contain nothing. In areas of high unemployment, workers are happy to dig meaningless holes for two or three US dollars a day. Con men claim to have recovered treasure but will only meet with buyers in secluded rural areas – abduction points for allegedly wealthy travellers. Others will try to sell gold-plated brass Buddhas and fake gold bars for thousands of times their actual value.


    Palawan Islands have many hidden gold bars recovered by Japanese and ship out by Small Boat to JAPAN, Japanese Relatives of Japanese Generals, Japanese Captain Japanese Major had hidden a little stash of GOLD BARS - Japanese Relatives come to Philippines to recover it by renting small boat from Japan and into Palawan

    When Japan entered the World War II in 1941, the 18 heavy cruisers of the Imperial Japanese Navy were a combined force of large and powerful ships designed for attack rather than defense. Long, low to the water, heavy and fast, they looked like no other nations cruisers with their flush decks and curved hulls topped off with large, pagoda-like tower bridges.

    In 1970's, filipino treasure hunter Rogelio Roxas recovered 2 feet tall Golden Budha and treasure cave full of gold bars...AND IT TOOK THE PHIL. ARMY...ONE YEAR TO HAUL THE TREASURES...and thats one site alone...there are 172 big volume sites (500+ tons gold)...and for every one big volume sites sorrounded by hundreds smaller
    (1-5 tons gold) Yamashita Treasures Sites....


    PATHFINDER WEEKLY MAGAZINE- FEB 29 1936
    War With Japan Coming? Senator Key Pittman of Nevada and J. Hamilton Lewis of Illinois are staunch believers The believe Japan's first seizure will be Alaska Then, they say Japan will seize the Philippines



    Luzon, P.I. Miss Mila Calma a 22 Year Old Filipina who operated with Tarlac Luzon Guerrilla units around Tarlac pose with US Airforce FLAG outside command center in
    Tarlac. Much Credit is given to Filipino Fighters both for the work against Japanese Imperial Invaders  and Loyal Cooperation with the Americans...
    LOYAL to UNCLE SAM - Feb 7 1945


    West Coast Camp of California  - In Order to Help Avenge the Heroes and their Brothers of Bataan
    Thousands of Filipinos are now undergoing Intensive Training as the First Full Filipino American Regiment  of its Kind  in the United States Army  - August 14 1942

    The first page of the buy/sell agreement dated February 4, 1983, between The Mercantile Insurance Co.Inc, and the Engineering Construction Company, Ltd. Nassau, Bahamas. Daniel Swihart for the buyers and John Ramsingh for the sellers. This Agreement and 35 more pages spell out the four traunches being offered by Marcos. The first Traunch was for 716,045 bars each weighing 12.5 kgs. (approximately 25 US pounds) all 24 carats. The second traunch was for 239,400 bars of the same weight and finess. These two tranches were concluded. The third traunch was for 1,809,508 bars of the same weight and finess, and the fourth traunch was for 2,167,230 bars. The first two totalling 946,445 bars was transfered. Had the entire deal gone down, it would have represented 4,923,183 bars each weighing 25 pounds, or 123,079,575 total pounds, or 1,476,954,900 troy ounces. At the listed purchase price per troy ounce, this transaction was worth over $552 million US dollars, or over a half a billion.  

    Ferdinand Marcos and Imelda Marcos were indicted by the U.S. Federal Court. Ferdinand would die before the trial and Imelda would win an acquittal by releasing 72,000 metric tons of Yamashita Treasures Gold which were being stored in Fort Knox.

    Marcos, like his father, won a seat in Congress from the same district in 1950. He had kept his law office in Ilocos Norte and when not in Manila he would take a few cases to keep in touch with his voters. In the spring of 1952 two laborers came to him and asked his help in collecting their pay from two ex-Imperial Army veterans. They claimed they were hired to dig a deep pit near the old military base and had uncovered a lot of gold bars. Instead of paying them the Japanese had run them off at gun point. Marcos went with them and they sneaked up on the excavation. Marcos saw the two Japanese hauling gold bars up from the pit and struggling to load them on the back of a truck. Marcos toldthe laborers to wait there while he went to get help. Marcos returned within an hour with two men. All three were armed with rifles and hand guns. Without fanfare the three armed men took up positions and on command shot and killed the two Japanese and two other Filipinos who were in their camp. Then without flinching they shot the two laborers.

    Marcos and his two friends removed the rest of the gold bars from the pit and finished loading them on the truck. The total weight of the bars was over two tons. The truck sagged on its springs. He then had his friends collect the bodies and drop them down the pit. The rest of the day was spent by the three men filling the pit in order to hide bodies. When it was about a meter from the top Marcos dispatched his two friends with a hand gun and rolled them into the pit. He finished filling the pit and cut down branches which he spread around to hide the activity. Marcos now knew these treasure rumors were true. It was the beginning of his nearly forty-year quest for the rest of the treasure. A year laterMarcos married Imelda Romualdez and thus was formed the beginning of the conjugal dictatorship.

    In 1965 Marcos using gold, guns, and goons won the election and becamethe President of the Philippines. Now he had the resources of the entire Country that he could use in his quest for more of the treasure. Another event that greatly affected him was to learn that Imelda's biological father was supposed to be Severino Santa Romana, the same OSS operative who worked with Yamashita. Santa Romana would later share the information of the earlier successes with him and eventually disclose where that treasure was still being stored.
    Sometime in the mid 1960’s Marcos recovered US$8 billion from a tunnel known as “Teresa 2″, which was located 38 miles south of Manila, in the Rizal province.

    In 1969, having sent one of his military officers to Tokyo he learned there was a large treasure site under the main flag pole of Camp Aquinaldo. The Camp had been a headquarters of the Kempeitai during theoccupation. Using his Presidential Security force and other soldiers heexcavated the site. Before the end of the year he was able to recover over two thousand metric tons of gold and a lot of precious stones. He was a very wealthy man. He and Imelda flaunted that fact and in 1970 Cosmopolitan Magazine wrote an article saying he was the wealthiest man in Asia. The outcry that followed caused him to admit to the press that he was a very wealthy man because he had recovered "Yamashita's" treasure. In truth Yamashita had nothing to do with it.
    . The World Court in 1945 had passed a law that any stolen war treasures would be returned to the countries they were stolen from. This moratorium would not expire until 1985. Turning this gold into cash became a tremendous problem. It would haunt him for the next twenty years.

    Marcos hired an American, Robert Curtis, to search for buried treasure and remelt gold bullion to hide its origins.
    Curtis later told of seeing bars of gold “stacked from floor to ceiling” in one of the dictator’s provincial palaces. “The ingots”, he said, “were of a distinctive shape used around the time of World War II”.






    Japanese Cruiser Atago

    Submarine action in Palawan Passage (23 October 1944)

    BATTLE OF PALAWAN PASSAGE SEA
    (Note - this action is referred to by Morison as "The Fight in Palawan Passage"[13], and is elsewhere occasionally referred to as "the Battle of Palawan Passage").

    As it sortied from its base in Brunei Kurita's powerful "Center Force" consisted of five battleships (Yamato, Musashi, Nagato, Kongō, and Haruna), ten heavy cruisers (Atago, Maya, Takao, Chōkai, Myōkō, Haguro, Kumano, Suzuya, Tone and Chikuma), two light cruisers (Noshiro and Yahagi) and fifteen destroyers
    Kurita's ships passed Palawan Island (Palawan.COM) at around midnight on 22-23 October. The American submarines Darter and Dace were positioned in company with each other on the surface close by. At 00:16 October 23 Darter's radar detected the Japanese formation at a range of 30,000 yards. Her captain promptly made visual contact. The two submarines quickly moved off in pursuit of the ships, while Darter made the first of three contact reports. At least one of these was picked up by a radio operator on Yamato, but Kurita failed to take appropriate anti-submarine precautions. 
    Darter and Dace - travelling on the surface at full power - after several hours gained a position ahead of Kurita's formation with the intention of making a submerged attack at first light. This attack was unusually successful. At 05:24 Darter fired a spread of six torpedoes, at least four of which hit Kurita's flagship, the heavy cruiser Atago. Ten minutes later Darter made two hits on the Atago's sister ship Takao with another spread of torpedoes. At 05:56 Dace made four torpedo hits on the heavy cruiser Maya (sister to Atago and Takao).".[16]


    Japanese Heavy Cruiser Maya
    Atago and Maya quickly sank. Takao turned back to Brunei escorted by two destroyers - and followed by the two submarines. On 24 October, as the submarines continued to shadow the damaged cruiser, Darter grounded on the Bombay Shoal. All efforts to get her off failed, and she was abandoned. Her entire crew was, however, rescued by Dace.

    Takao returned to Singapore, where she remained for the rest of the war.

    Atago had sunk so rapidly that Kurita was forced to swim in order to survive. He was rescued by one of the Japanese destroyers, and he then transferred to the Yamato

    This place is almost 15deg NE, ideal bearing for the paranormal beliefs of the japanese. pag nagtatago sila ng kanilang mga nakulimbat na yaman ng mga bansa. Ayon ng mga matatanda dito ay di kayang bilangin ang mga ssundalong hapon ang nangamatay sa dakong ito , meron silang mga hospital at mga training grounds sa area na ito. Ngayon Ang JICA isang grupo ng mga hapon , Bechtell isang american Firm at si Pangulong Arroyo kasama na ang mga lokal na pamahalaan ang nagsusulong na gawing lanfill ang area na ito. dati gwardyado ng grupo ni marcos ang dakong ito.Ngayon sila naman. until now balikatan joint forces still exercising in this area. ang world bank at si dating pangulong Ramos ay lagi ring nakamonitor sa lugar na ito.Walang ganyanan! jet7


    Yamashita Treasure Site
    Sa mga taga rito wag nyo hayaan na makuha o maging land fill ng mga hapon at kano itong area na ito...Dito matatagpuan ang Tunnel 9, Camp 24 ng Golden Lily...


    57th Infantry Philippine Scout Fort mckinley aka Fort Bonifacio Taguig City circa 1930's



    .






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  • Yamashita Treasures Davao TUNNEL-OF-GOLD ?
    If you got a Japanese Gold Digging Adventure Stories or Japanese Philippine War Stories ----Share it with us and we will publish it here
    so you can inspire, teach, share all your experience on the said venture to others

    • Email us at: SabahPhilippines@Gmail.com



    Imperial Japanese Army Surrender in the Island of Cebu


    BUREAU OF PRISON - Bilibid Prison - circa 1931 Before World War 2 - Does Yamashita Treasures Gold Bars  Exist Here?





    USA DO NOT HAVE THIS



    BOOKS FOR SALE:
       


















    DECEMBER  10 1941


    DECEMBER 07 1941




    SHOUTING  BANZAI  BANZAI  BANZAI - VICTORIOUS JAPANESE FLASH
    MANY SMILE - 1942  





    OCTOBER  26 1944 LOS ANGELES TIMES

    OCTOBER  26 1944


    US MACHINE GUNNERS COVERING A CAVE ON
    OPPOSITE HILL LUZON  PHILIPPINES PHOTO c1945





    Beautiful  1960's Marcos Family Photo.


    Gen. Douglas Mac Arthur sentimental photo in the Philippines during the 1960’s with wives of Philippines Senators
    Determined to create the longest runway in the Pacific, the Japanese required the men to hand dig and remove a hill. Known by the POWS as "The Cut", the men dug away an entire hill under extremely brutal condiditions while being deliberately starved. Day and night, hundreds of men worked on the field.
    Illustrations provided by:
    Al McGrew, H Company, 60th CAC, captured on Corregidor.

    The Camp, known as the Pasay School on Park Avenue, was located about one mile from the actual digging site. Nichols field lay approximately 10 miles south of Manila. (Nielson Field was north of Nichols and lay on the south edge of Manila proper) Build a runway expansion at Nichols field by tearing through an entire mountain by hand.





    EVERYONE LOVES A TREASURE hunt and a good yarn. Speculating on where the late Philippine president Ferdinand Marcos stashed millions in gold and cash provides both. The deposed dictator's narrative on how he secured his booty seems straight out of an adventure comic. During his lifetime, Marcos dismissed suggestions that his riches came from plundering the nation's coffers.Philippine Central Bank have 600+ tons of Gold Only... He claimed he stumbled on a pot of gold in the jungle. The fortune, he maintained, was actually part of the mythical Yamashita treasures buried by a Japanese general during his hasty retreat from the Philippines at the end of World War II.
    Unlikely story, and perhaps irrelevant now. More important is tracking down what happened to the money after Marcos's flight from the Philippines in 1986. Some believe the fortune is deposited in Swiss banks. His widow, Imelda, says it is buried in the Philippines. The government has found only $356 million in accounts in two banks, Credit Suisse and Swiss Bank Corp., but so far none has been recovered. The rest, as much as $20 billion by one estimate, remains elusive. letter documents the sale of 1.1 million ounces of bullion and the laundering of the $466 million in proceeds through Swiss ac-counts in the name of the Philippine National Oil Co. and of a company called Marcan Inc - YamashitaTreasures gold horde—much of which still remains hidden, buried, in the Philippine islands and elsewhere in the Pacific and which is still the subject of wide-ranging treasure hunts 

    Retired General John Singlaub, a vaunted hero of both World War II and Korea who finished up his career as the top U.S. military commander in Korea, dismissed by then-President Jimmy Carter.

    Singlaub actually became quite active in the covert American efforts to recover the “Yamashita treasure” and, according to Singlaub, “I knew from past experience that stories of buried Japanese gold in the Philippines were Legitimate.  Marcos’s US$12 billion fortunate actually came from [this] treasure, not skimmed-off U.S. aid.  But Marcos had only managed to rake off a dozen or so of the biggest sites.  That left well over a hundred untouched.”

    This, of course, means that Yamashita Treasures Gold—which amounts to certainly hundreds of billions in value, probably trillions—was a real source of power and influence for Marcos and, in the end, proved not only to be a source of his rise to power, but, ultimately, his undoing.

    The Seagraves relate—echoing The Spotlight—that when Marcos demanded a higher-than-usual commission for lending a portion of his gold horde to the Reagan administration in order to prop up a Reagan scheme to manipulate the world gold market, this was the beginning of Marcos’ downfall.  As a consequence, then U.S. CIA-Director William Casey set in motion the riots and protests that began creating trouble for Marcos in the streets of Manila. Suddenly,  Ninoy Aquino comes home Philippines....All Hell Broke Loose...

    Although Casey flew to Manila, along with U.S. Treasury Secretary Donald Regen, CIA economist Professor Higdon and an attorney, Lawrence Kreager, to give Marcos a “last chance”, the Philippine nationalist would not buckle.  Higdon told Marcos that he would be out of power “in two weeks” for not appeasing the international banking houses and their agents in the American administration.

    The Seagraves report that a source close to Marcos advised them that Marcos was then approached by an emissary from David Rockefeller’s Trilateral Commission asking Marcos to contribute $54 billion in gold bullion to a so-called “global development fund”.  Marcos’ response was to consign the Trilateral demand into a waste basket.

    In no short order, of course, Marcos was forced from office and flown to Hawaii with his family where they were held effectively under house arrest.  Marcos and his wife told many people—including reporters from The Spotlight—that they had never expected to be taken to Hawaii, that they had, instead, expected to be flown to safety from Manila to Marco’s home island of Ilocos Norte.

    In the meantime, billions of dollars worth of gold certificates that the Marcos [couple] had taken with them were confiscated by the U.S. government.  But when the Marcoses demanded the return of the certificates, the U.S. said the certificates were “fake”.

    In other words, the Reagan administration casually and ruthlessly stole billions from the Marcos, at the same time helping perpetuate the media myth that the Marcos family had stolen billions from their own nation’s treasury.  By Michael Collins Piper - Courtesy of Seagrave Gold Warrior

    The Philipine government has some pretty strict, and well enforced guidelines for would be treasure hunters operating in their territories. Many expeditions have been escorted by the Philipino Military, who stand guard night and day to make sure that the government gets their fair share of the treasure - which is listed below:

      a) For Treasure Hunting within Public Lands – Seventy-five percent(75%) to the Government and twenty-five (25%) to the Permit Holder.

      b) For Treasure Hunting in Private Lands – Thirty Percent (30%) to the Government and Seventy Percent (70%) to be shared by the Permit Holder and the landowner.

      c) For Shipwreck/Sunken Vessel Recovery – Fifty percent (50%) to the Government and Fifty percent (50%) to the Permit Holder.”

    The four main actions in the battle of Leyte Gulf. 1 Battle of the Sibuyan Sea 2 Battle of Surigao Strait 3 Battle of (or 'off') Cape Engaño 4 Battle off Samar

    Battle off Samar. Part of the Battle of Leyte Gulf



    This place is almost 15deg NE, ideal bearing for the paranormal beliefs of the japanese. pag nagtatago sila ng kanilang mga nakulimbat na yaman ng mga bansa. Ayon ng mga matatanda dito ay di kayang bilangin ang mga ssundalong hapon ang nangamatay sa dakong ito , meron silang mga hospital at mga training grounds sa area na ito. Ngayon Ang JICA isang grupo ng mga hapon , Bechtell isang american Firm at si Pangulong Arroyo kasama na ang mga lokal na pamahalaan ang nagsusulong na gawing lanfill ang area na ito. dati gwardyado ng grupo ni marcos ang dakong ito.Ngayon sila naman. until now balikatan joint forces still exercising in this area. ang world bank at si dating pangulong Ramos ay lagi ring nakamonitor sa lugar na ito. Walang ganyanan!
    Jet7

    Philippines were declared an American Territory on January 4, 1899, and fortification construction began soon after on the islands in the mouth of Manila Bay. Among the sites built were Fort Mills (Corregidor), Fort Frank, and the unique and formidable "concrete battleship" of Fort Drum. War came in December 1941, and the defenses suffered constant Japanese bombardment, leading to the surrender of American forces. In 1945 the forts were manned by Japanese soldiers determined to hold out to the bitter end: bloody and brutal fighting ensued.

    Received complaints from readers who encountered jewellers charging more than the market price.
    A buyer who asked not to be named said: "The price of gold prompted me to visit the Gold Souq in Sharjah. However, most retailers claimed they were sold out. Outlets where gold was available were openly overcharging. They said it was in short supply. The price of 24 carat stood at Dh88.75 but they were openly charging Dh92.50. This is clearly an unfair practice."

    Shubash Golati, a buyer, said: "It is a tradition to buy gold during the four-day Indian festival of Diwali. I bought 22 carat jewellery worth Dh5,000. I wanted to buy a 100 gramme gold bar but was told that it is out of stock."


    American Forces Cannon fired...!! at Japanese Position in Philippine Islands circa 1944- 1945 - LIBERATION OF PHILIPPINE ISLANDS


    University of Santo Tomas American Civilians held 
    by Japanese in Manila

    Iris turned her attention to another subject connected to Japanese atrocities from World War II—the Bataan Death March. Some of the American soldiers captured after the Japanese invasion of the Philippines were forced to work as slave laborers for some of the major Japanese corporations. As will be seen below, class action lawsuits and other attempts at gaining belated compensation for these unfortunate POWs was met with fierce opposition from the US State Department!! Remember that Iris Chang was cutting across these same lines of political power. “ . . . But soon she found herself drawn to a subject just as dark. Iris Chang rang the doorbell on Ed Martel’s front porch in Kenosha, Wisconsin, on December 4, 2003. It’s a date he won’t forget. ‘She sat down and cross-examined me like a district attorney for five solid hours,’ said Martel, 86, one of the last remaining survivors of the Bataan Death March of World War II. His daughter, Maddy, remembered the day well, too. ‘We set out a very big lunch—meat trays and sandwiches and desserts,’ she said. ‘My dad was so excited that she was doing this, and so honored.’” (Ibid.; pp. 11-12.)

    14. “Months earlier, Iris had seized on a letter in her ‘book ideas’ file about a Midwestern pocket of Bataan survivors, all members of two tank battalions. ‘They drop so fast,’ the letter had read. The correspondent was Sgt. Anthony Meldahl, a supply sergeant with the Ohio National Guard who had admired Iris’ work. Meldahl was now urging Iris to join his oral-history project. She did, and, starting in November 2003, would make four trips to meet with Bataan vets—in Wisconsin, Illinois, Ohio and Kentucky. Each time, Iris swept into town and conducted four or five intensive interviews in as many days. ‘She was like a battalion commander,’ Meldahl said.” (Ibid.; p. `12.)

    15. “ ‘It’s amazing when you watch Iris do research,’ Brett said. ‘She would go into a town—and with Tony Meldahl’s help, it was even better. She would have a team of three vets and their children and their wives. Iris would be interviewing them, somebody else would be filming them, somebody else would be photocopying records, and somebody would be sending documents down to UPS. And Iris would buy lunch and dinner for everybody, and they all thought it was great.” (Idem.)

    16. Again, note that some of the Bataan Death Marchers were shipped to Japan to work as slave laborers. This subject will be taken up at greater length below. “ ‘These people wanted their story told for a long, long time, and they knew that because Iris had success as an author, she’d be able to do a very good job,’ Brett said. Ed Martel’s story began on Dec. 7, 1941. Pearl Harbor was still smoldering when Japanese planes bombed the
    Philippines’ Bataan Peninsula, where Martel was stationed with a National Guard tank battalion. With few rations, little ammunition and no reinforcements, 70,000 American and Filipino troops held off the Japanese for months. When the American general surrendered on April 9, the Japanese forced the troops to walk 65 miles through sweltering jungle. Some 8,000 died on the notorious ‘death march.’ Those who survived spent the rest of the war in a bleak prison camp; some were shipped to Japan as slave laborers. [Italics are Mr. Emory’s.] Once the Allies won the war, the story was forgotten. It had been the largest U.S. Army surrender in history.” (Idem.)

    17. “ ‘It’s baffling to me that the U.S. today has so little knowledge of the four months we held out,’ Martel told The Chronicle by telephone from his home in Wisconsin. ‘We marvel at how America turned their backs on us.’ Martel was slightly hard of hearing, but his memory was crisp. He recalled telling Iris about the worst of his Bataan experiences. ‘Iris asked me to tell about atrocities,’ he said. ‘Twice I broke down and had to leave the room.’” (Idem.)

    18. As Ms. Chang was investigating the story of the Death Marchers, she made the acquaintance of a colonel, who elicited fear in this otherwise dauntless individual. The colonel checked her into a psychiatric hospital, where she was put on a cycle of psychiatric drugs. Was she subjected to some sort of mind control? Did that have something to do with her death? Was she programmed to commit suicide? “ . . . ‘I knew Iris was not right,’ her mother said. ‘She couldn’t eat or drink. She was very depressed.’ She asked if Iris had any friends there she could call for help. One of the veterans—a colonel she had planned to meet in Louisville—came to the hotel. Smith said the colonel spent only a short time with her. ‘She was afraid of him when he showed up,’ Smith said. ‘But he spoke to her mother on the phone and told Iris, ‘Your mom is on the phone, so it’s OK.’’ That afternoon, she checked herself in to Norton Psychiatric Hospital in Louisville, with help from the colonel. Through a third party, the colonel declined to be interviewed. ‘First they gave her an antipsychotic, to stabilize her,’ her mother said. ‘For three days they gave her medication, the first time in her life.’ (The family would not name specific drugs.) . . . ” (Ibid.; p. 14.)

    19. Iris’s suicide note betrayed fear of retribution for her research. She felt that her internment in the psychiatric hospital may have somehow been part of that retribution. As noted below, she felt the CIA or some similar type of institution may have been involved in the activities conducted against her. “ . . . Then she wrote a suicide note—addressed to her parents, Brett and her brother—followed by a lengthy revision. The first draft said: ‘When you believe you have a future, you think in terms of generations and years. When you do not, you live not just by the day—but by the minute. [Italics are Mr. Emory’s.] It is far better that you remember me as I was—in my heyday as a best-selling author—than the wild-eyed wreck who returned from Louisville . . . Each breath is becoming difficult for me to take—the anxiety can be compared to drowning in an open sea. I know that my actions will transfer some of this pain to others, indeed those who love me the most. Please forgive me. Forgive me because I cannot forgive myself.’” (Ibid.; p. 18.)

    20. “In the final version, she added: ‘There are aspects of my experience in Louisville that I will never understand. Deep down I suspect that you may have more answers about this than I do. I can never shake my belief that I was being recruited, and later persecuted, by forces more powerful than I could have imagined. Whether it was the CIA or some other organization I will never know. As long as I am alive, these forces will never stop hounding me. . . .” (Idem.)

    21. Although those around Iris (and the author of the article excerpted here) felt that she was “imagining” things, there was very real danger for people involved in researching the deep politics and clandestine goings on surrounding the machinations of the Japanese corporations and national security establishment, before, during and after World War II. As will be seen below, the US government has actively participated in the cover-up of these machinations. “‘Days before I left for Louisville I had a deep foreboding about my safety. I sensed suddenly threats to my own life: an eerie feeling that I was being followed in the streets, the white van parked outside my house, damaged mail arriving at my P.O. Box. I believe my detention at Norton Hospital was the government’s attempt to discredit me. ‘I had considered running away, but I will never be able to escape from myself and my thoughts. I am doing this because I am too weak to withstand the years of pain and agony ahead.’” (Idem.)

    22. “After Iris Chang’s Oldsmobile was found off Highway 17 on Tuesday morning, Nov. 9, the California Highway Patrol was called to the scene. The Highway Patrol then called the Santa Clara Sheriff’s homicide unit and detective Sgt. Dean Baker, a 33-year veteran, took over the investigation. ‘There is an aspect of paranoia in the majority of suicides,’ Baker said. ‘ A lot of people—depending on how disturbed they are—feel that people are plotting against them.’” (Idem.)

    23. Despite the dismissal of Iris’s fears as “paranoia,” there is reason to believe her fears were justified. In a phone call to an old friend from college, Iris noted that her family and friends thought her problems were “in her head”—“internal”—but that they were real, i.e. “external.” “ . . . The months passed, and I got involved in my own projects. A few weeks ago, a mutual friend e-mailed me that Iris was trying to reach me, and that she had been sick for the past few months. Then, on Saturday, Nov. 6, my cellphone rang. When I heard the tone of Iris’ voice, I excused myself from the friends I was visiting and stood outside in their yard for privacy. The bounce in her voice was totally gone. Instead, it was sad and totally drained, as if she were making a huge effort just to talk to me. I remembered that she recently had been sick.”
    (“How ‘Iris Chang’ Became a Verb” by Paula Kamen; Salon.com.)

    24. “She said, ‘I just wanted to let you know that in case something should happen to me, you should always know that you’ve been a good friend.’ Over the next hour, I stumbled to ask her about what had happened. She talked about her overwhelming fears and anxieties, including being unable to face the magnitude—and the controversial nature—of the stories that she had uncovered. Her current vaguely described problems were ‘external,’ she kept repeating, a result of her controversial research. They weren’t a result of the ‘internal,’ that is, they weren’t all in her head. [Italics are Mr. Emory’s.] I asked her about what others in her life thought about the cause of this apparent depression. She paused and said, ‘They think it’s internal.’” (Idem.)

    25. Next, the program reprises material from FTR#446, concerning the death threats received by the Seagraves, who had been researching many of the same type of things as Iris Chang. The Seagraves’ problems were “external,” not “internal.” “Many people told us this book was historically important and must be published—

    then warned us that if it were published, we would be murdered. An Australian economist who read it said, ‘ I hope they let you live.’ He did not have to explain who ‘they’ were.”

    Claire Phillips gathered information from Japanese military officers patronizing her club in Manila, which she secretly passed to the Allied forces during WWII. She was arrested and tortured, but survived the war and wrote a book about her wartime experience.


    James Murphy, who was Governor-General of the Philippines in 1933-1934 and the first U.S. High Commissioner to the Philippines (1934-1936). In his remarks, Chargé Mussomeli noted that in 1940, President Roosevelt appointed Murphy to the Supreme Court “where he becam;