I did a bit more digging and this seemed the most credible source I could find...
2005
Two Japanese Soldiers on Mindanao
A report in early May 2005 talked about two former Japanese Army soldiers found on Mindanao
Reportedly, their names were Yoshio Yamakawa, 87, from Osaka, and Tsuzuki Nakauchi, 85.
Doubts rise over Japanese WWII 'soldiers'
From the Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC)
Japanese officials were studying new information to confirm whether two elderly men in the southern Philippines were soldiers left over from World War II, but suspicion was rising of a hoax or a trap set by kidnappers. The story of former Japanese soldiers ready to emerge from the mountains 60 years after the war has attracted a horde of media, mostly from Japan, to the city of General Santos on the troubled island of Mindanao. On the third day of waiting for a Japanese contact to produce the two men, Shuhei Ogawa, the embassy spokesman, said officials had sent information from several sources, including the Philippine government, to Tokyo for analysis. "We have a clearer picture now. That means it's easier to make a decision whether to proceed or not," he told reporters. Japanese officials met the Japanese contact - a trader who only gave his name as Asano, on Sunday, he said. Mr Ogawa said he had been told to wait in General Santos for instructions from Tokyo. He did not give details of the information or say whether it confirmed that the two men were the first cases in 30 years of wartime stragglers being found. Scepticism began to grow three days after the stragglers' story broke in Japan's media, because there has been no credible proof the two elderly men exist. Media named the pair as Yoshio Yamakawa, 87, from the western city of Osaka, and Tsuzuki Nakauchi, 85. The last known Japanese straggler from the war was found in 1975 in Indonesia.
