Re: 2007 EXPEDITION: YAMASH-I-T-A ( Japanese) TREASURE
HI KILOY: Your quote--->
What a serious blunder! Are you so sure that all shipping lanes were open to Japan until mid-1943

It is obvious now who is ignorant between the two of us!.....Dont you know that as early as 1942 there were Japanese Naval and Merchant Vessels already sank by US submarine

Houston....we really got a big problem!... SWR is twisting history! He is not aware of the victories and valor of his own country (in case you're an American).
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All things are relative, even in peace time no shipping was / is safe, just look at the thousands & thousands of peace time ship wrecks thoughout the world. In war it is an more calculated risk, this is why Yamamoto was killed., he took a calculated risk.
However I must ask, which is the best route, leave it where the allies would almost surely capture it and it would be of no use to Japan, or, as many other countries did, go for a risky shipment to Japan? The answer is obvious, ship it Japan, burying it would be the same as a sunken ship.
Incidentally, how did it get to the Philippines in the first place, since much of the looting was taking place in 1942-43.?
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Admiral Yamomoto's death happened sometime in April 1943... A plausible and big evidence that almost no place( air, sea, land) is safe during that time! Want to know why? It is because as of August 1942 an air search system and the first surface search RADAR system was installed aboard a US submarine
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Not even Japan, Australia, or the west coast of the US was then , but in practicality Bougainville was a safe area for the Japanese at that time. It took a world class effort to intercept his Betty, almost a 1000 mile flight over country effectively controlled by the Japanese. For all practical purposes he was safe.
I was at Guadalcanal during this period, so have a fairly accurate first hand knowledge of it..
Don Jose de La Mancha