The early days looked promising. We found web pages created by students at Etajima High School. Attempts at e-mail contact were unsuccessful. At the same time, students were finding out information about the significance of this seemingly tiny island. It was the site of the Japanese Imperial Naval Academy and had a fascinating and rich history.

 The town of Etajima also had a web page which provided wonderful pictures and cultural information, but no new contacts.

A little investigation using a technique I call URL cutback, (for lack of knowing the proper term) revealed the reason we probably received no reply from Etajima High School. It showed the site was not actually on Etajima. It was hosted on the web server at Yasuda University in Hiroshima. This provided new leads. The site has currently been updated and is now in Japanese. Before updating there was an English section. Students scoured the site and came up with addresses of about a dozen teachers at the university.

Not wanting to use a shotgun approach, one lead at a time was followed up. One after another we hit more dead ends. Some messages were unanswered, one came back regretting they couldn’t help, because they had no access to the web and two indicated they would pass information along where possible and offered other advice, including writing to Etajima town council. Things were looking up a little, but Hubert, a senior who had put in a great deal of time and effort, was beginning to think he would graduate without seeing the fruits of his labor.

About this same time, Jerry Jerow, one of the original people who responded to my premature call for help and followed our progress, contacted me to see how the search was going. He passed along an e-mail address of Mika Maeda, who worked with the Hiroshima Volunteer Network. Jerry mentioned she might be of help. I passed the information along to the class and another message went out, along with a letter from Mrs. Kojima to the town council of Etajima.

 A series of messages followed and Mika had the picture and posted it to a web site in Japan. She then began to spread the word. Jerry’s lead to Mika , the letter, and other offers of help sparked curiosity and excitement about the search on both sides of the ocean. Mika indicated she would contact TV and radio stations as well as contact Etajima. By now the parties in Japan were beginning to coordinate their efforts, and Hubert's prospects were beginning to look up

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