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== Background ==
On the afternoon of 24 July 1989, on the path from Mount Kurodake to Mount Asahidake of Daisetsuzan National Park, two [[Tokyo]] men were lost after mountaineering. While going through the climbing route, they deviated down Mount Asahidake, south towards the Chubetsu river. The Hokkaido police searched in a helicopter and ended up finding a giant SOS sign made of 19 [[birch tree]]s, each roughly 5 meters long. It was built by stacking cut downfelled birch trees. The two missing people were soon safely rescued 2–3 km north from the sign.<ref name="asahi_1989-07-26">{{cite news|title=北の山中 届かなかった・SOS 近くに白骨、遭難か 北海道・旭岳 |newspaper=朝日新聞 |date=1989-07-26}}</ref><ref name="mainichi_1989-07-26">{{cite news|title=「SOS」木文字 近くに白骨散乱 大雪山系の湿原 遭難者か |newspaper=毎日新聞 |date=1989-07-26}}</ref><ref name="yomiuri_1989-07-26">{{cite news|title=大雪山系 「SOS」文字 そばに人骨 遭難者か、倒木を並べる |newspaper=読売新聞 |date=1989-07-26}}</ref><ref name="nippon-kakomon">{{cite web|title=過去の放送内容 【第84回】「山の上の巨大構造物"SOS遭難事件"の真相とは？」(3月1日放送) |work=[[上田晋也のニッポンの過去問]] |url=https://www.tbs.co.jp/nippon-kakomon/20170301.html |publisher=TBSテレビ|accessdate=2021-10-02|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20200921135435/http://www.tbs.co.jp/nippon-kakomon/20170301.html |archivedate=2020-09-21}}</ref>
The Hokkaido police believed that the SOS letters made of wood had been constructed by the two people that they had rescued. However, when the police briefeddebriefed the two people about the situation after the rescue, they did not know anything about the SOS sign. The Hokkaido police, who thought that there was another victim, dispatched a helicopter again on the following day and searched the surrounding area. The police discovered fragments of [[Human skeleton|human bones]] with traces of animal bites. It appeared that some of the bones had been fractured prior to death. In a separate area near the SOS sign, the police discovered a hole just large enough to fit a single human, which included four [[cassette tape]]s, a [[tape recorder]], a [[backpack]], some [[amulet]]s, a [[skull|human skull]], a [[tripod]], a pair of men's [[Sneakers|basketball shoes]], two [[camera]]s, a [[notebook]], and the [[driver's license]] of Kenji Iwamura, a 25-year-old male office worker from [[Kōnan, Aichi|Kōnan]], [[Aichi Prefecture]] who had gone [[Missing person|missing]] on 10 July 1984 after he set out hiking to Asahidake. When Iwamura failed to appear for work a week later, his parents asked police to search for him, but they found no trace.<ref name="asahi_1989-07-26" /><ref name="mainichi_1989-07-26" /><ref name="yomiuri_1989-07-26" /><ref name="nippon-kakomon" /> As of {{currentyear}}, Iwamura has been missing for {{age|1984|7|10}} years, and police believed that he is deceased.{{cn|date=September 2024}}
The human bones were sent to [[Asahikawa Medical University]] and were identified initially as those of a woman aged 20–40 years. On 27 July, the police decided to play the recordings on the cassette tapes. On one of the recordings, the voice of a young man is heard shouting for 2 minutes and 17 seconds. A translation of the man shouting on the recording is as follows:<ref name="asahi_1989-07-28">{{cite news|title=大雪山遭難 テープ再生 叫び悲痛 2分17秒 |newspaper=朝日新聞 |date=1989-07-28}}</ref><ref name="nippon-kakomon" />
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