Hi friends! Happy Friday! I haven't really been focusing on my Freaky Friday Files for a while now - I think some people really enjoy them and others don't and that's okay, we all like something a bit different. I thought we could look at the SOS Incident for this week's edition (a shorter mystery for ya'll).
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The SOS Incident
The SOS incident occurred in Japan in 1989 in Mount Asahi specifically. Two lost hikers were spotted after a search and rescue team had spotted a giant SOS sign (they found them within 3km of the SOS sign). The SOS sign was HUGE and made from fallen birch logs. However, once the hikers had been rescued, it was revealed that they were not the ones who had built the SOS sign - they just happened to be in the right time, right place sorta thing. I don't actually think they saw the sign either.
The SOS sign was allegedly at Mount Asahi since 1987 (explained below). The search and rescue team went back the next day to search for other lost hikers as they thought there were more out there - it was too late in the day to go back the same day. What they found was really interesting - skeletal remains of a person - they originally thought female but I believe the remains turned out to be male. Authorities also found an ID for the man Kenji Iwamura who had been missing since 1984, a notebook, 2 cameras, and a tape recorder with recordings on it. The tape recorder had a distressed man calling for help. The skeletal remains were confirmed to be Kenji's by a medical examination in 1990.
One of the recordings on the tape recording was as follows: "SOS; help me! I can't move on the cliff! SOS; help me!" "The place is where I first met the helicopter! The sasa is deep, and I can't get up! Lift me up from here!"
I can't seem to find any information about this alleged helicopter but Kenji's parents were unable to confirm whether the man's voice was his or not.
Authorities also went back and looked at topographic images of where the SOS sign was and found that it was in images in 1987. It is believed by authorities that Kenji would have been too weak to make the SOS sign himself - and unlikely that he survived from 1984 - 1987. So who built the SOS sign?
An image of the SOS sign

Here are my theories:
Kenji built the sign (and may have had help) - or he just built it before he got too weak, he had been lost a long time. I don't think it's possible to know the exact time of death
Maybe there was a helicopter when Kenji was there but they decided not to help him OR they couldn't find him
Someone built the SOS as a joke and just left it there / it's a hoax
Someone else built the sign and there are more missing people in this area of Japan
It has never been confirmed who built the SOS sign, but I assumed there were two people involved OR someone who was very strong as some of the logs were 5m long. It's a huge sign.
What do you think happened? There are some more theories in "this Reddit" thread.
Let me know in the comments below.
If you would like to read about another SOS story specific to Australia, you can check that out "here" - This one was solved.
Much love,
Ash
PS: stay safe when hiking!
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