Fabled Japanese treasure still draws dreamers

Spending a year digging a 37-metre deep shaft under your house in search of buried treasure would be seen as a sign of mental infirmity in most countries.

Spending a year digging a 37-metre deep shaft under your house in search of buried treasure would be seen as a sign of mental infirmity in most countries.

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In the Philippines, it is regarded as normal. The house in the suburbs of northern Baguio City appears no different from all the others until a visit to the basement, past a security guard who only opens the door to a secret knocking code, reveals an enormous hole stretching into darkness.

Babot, the chosen nickname of the house's owner, and his two associates look on proudly, pointing out features of the shaft that include a ventilation tube to guard against poison gas booby traps.

These men would be easy to dismiss as cranks if it weren't for the thousands of other treasure hunters who devote themselves to finding the vast amounts of gold they say was left by retreating Japanese forces at the end of World War II.

It sometimes seems that every Filipino knows someone with a map showing an X marking the spot. “It's not a myth at all, it's a true fact,” said an ethnic Chinese businessman who has backed this dig during an unorthodox retirement spent hunting for treasure around the country.