Original subtitles

Let's Do It.

Gates: What Do You Think About The People Who Built This?

Are They A Lost Civilization Of Some Kind?

What Is That?

Looks Like A Face.

You've All Heard The Myth Of Atlantis, An Ancient

And Technologically Advanced Civilization

That Was Swallowed By The Sea.

But What If I Told You That A Place Like Atlantis

Might Actually Exist?

♪♪

Hiding Beneath The Waves Of Southern Japan Is A Mystery --

A Massive And Perplexing Stone Edifice

Called The Yonaguni Ruins.

Its Detailed Structure And Precise Angles

Appear To Have Been Man-Made,

Yet Since The Site Was Discovered By Divers

Decades Ago, It Has Done Nothing But Divide

The Scientific Community.

To Some, Yonaguni Is The Last Remnant Of An Advanced Culture,

Thousands Of Years Older Than The Pyramids At Egypt.

Skeptics, However, Believe The Formations

Are A Natural, Albeit Strange, Geological Formation.

But Now Evidence Collected From The Site,

Including Intricate Carvings And Potentially Man-Made Objects

Could Answer The Question Once And For All.

Now The Bad News.

The Ruins Are Remote.

They're Located Of A Volcanic Island In The East China Sea.

The Waters There Are Swirling With Deadly Currents,

And It's A Breeding Ground For Hammerhead Sharks.

But The Only Way To Know If The Yonaguni Ruins

Are The Archaeological Find Of The Century

Is To Examine The Newest Evidence And Then Dive Down

And Study The Site Firsthand.

So What Are We Sitting Here For?

My Name Is Josh Gates.

With A Degree In Archaeology And A Passion For Exploration,

I Have A Tendency To End Up In Some Very Strange Situations.

Good Lord!

[ Laughs ]

My Travels Have Taken Me To The Ends Of The Earth

As I Investigate The Greatest Legends In History.

We're Good To Fly. Let's Go.

This Is "Expedition Unknown."

--Captions By Vitac-- Www.Vitac.Com

Captions Paid For By Discovery Communications

Just Getting To Yonaguni Is A Challenge In Itself.

From New York, I Fly To The West Coast,

Then Across The Pacific To Tokyo

And Then On To Another Flight Down To The Tiny Island.

After 22 Hours Of Travel, I Touch Down,

Delirious And Enthusiastic For The Adventure Ahead.

Small Island, Small Ride.

Time To See What This Place Is All About,

Before I Rendezvous With Kihachiro Aratake,

The Expert Who First Discovered The Ruins.

Welcome To Yonaguni Island.

Not Exactly A Bustling Spot.

It's Only About 11 Square Miles, Home To About 1,500 People,

And I Have Seen Exactly Zero Of Them So Far.

I've Had This Island Referred To As Quiet.

I Think That's Something Of An Understatement.

It's Like I'm In "The Walking Dead" Out Here.

In Fact, It's So Laid Back

That There's Just One Stop Light On The Entire Island.

It's A World Away From The Frenetic Japanese Cities

To The North, A Place That Seems Perfectly Content To Just Be.

Fishing Dominates The Local Economy,

And Every Facet Of Daily Life Seems Connected To The Sea.

Yonaguni Is Quiet Because It's So Remote.

It's Actually Japan's Westernmost Point,

Just 70 Miles From The Shores Of Taiwan.

Besides The Undersea Ruins I've Come To Investigate,

I Pull Over And Walk Through The Woods

To See Yonaguni's Other Bizarre Local Draw.

This Appears To Be A 200-Foot-Long Child's Slide

Made Out Of Scorching Hot Metal

And Rollers From A Meat-Packing Factory.

In The United States, This Slide Would Exist For One Day

Before A Class-Action Lawsuit Shut It Down.

I Don't Know Why This Exists On This Island,

But Here It Is, Just Waiting For Some Idiot To Try It Out.

Here We Go.

Aaaaaaah!

Ow! Oh, God!

Did The People Who Built This Test It?

Aaaaaah!

Oh, God! Oh, God!

What A Wonderful Ride For All The Kids.

♪♪

The Real Attraction On This Island, Though,

Is Submerged Just Offshore.

So, If I Have Any Chance Of Understanding

The Yonaguni Ruins, I Obviously Have To See Them Firsthand.

And To Do That, I'm Going To Meet With The Man

Who Discovered Yonaguni.

♪♪

I Arrive At The Docks To Meet With Legendary Diver

Kihachiro Aratake.

Aratake Not Only Found The Yonaguni Ruins,

But He Continues To Study The Site

For Evidence Of Human Construction.

Hi, There. I'm Josh. Thanks For Having Me Aboard.

I'm Thrilled That He's Agreed

To Let Me Tag Along On His Latest Survey.

♪♪

Once We're Clear Of The Harbor, Mr. Aratake And His Son Shorty

Recount The Discovery Of The Site.

When Did You First Find The Yonaguni Ruins.

In 1986.

1986?Yeah, Yeah, Yeah.

Diving Research.

Diving Research?Yeah.

When You Saw It, What Did You Think?

Underwater Ruins Look Like Machu Picchu.

Looked Like Machu Picchu?

Yeah. He Got Goose Bumps.

Did You Immediately Think That It Was Man-Made?

[ Speaking Japanese ]

Interpreter: It's Unlike Anything You've Ever Seen Before.

Once I Saw The Site,

There Was No Doubt In My Mind It Must Be Man-Made.

Who Do You Think Made The Site?

[ Speaking Japanese ]

Only God Knows.

Only God Knows?

Gates: Here's The Rub.

The Discovery Of The Yonaguni Ruins

Could Be A Groundbreaking Find,

But Only If Someone Can Prove That It's Man-Made.

And So Far, That's Been Surprisingly Difficult.

Supporters Like Aratake Believe The Ruins Date Back

More Than 4,000 Years.

They Claim That It Was Once A Coastal City,

A Towering Structure Of Rock-Cut Temples

And Massive Stone Architecture

That Was Swallowed By An Earthquake

Like The Legendary Atlantis.

As We Approach The Dive Site,

A Looming Rock Formation Comes Into View.

Tachigamiiwa, Which Means "Standing God Rock,"

Towers Above The Submerged Ruins Like A Sentinel.

It's A Jaw-Dropping Wonder That Some Believe

Also Has Signs Of Ancient Human Construction.

Are You Ready?Shorty: Yeah.

Man, Do People Tell You That You Look Like Bruno Mars?

Bruno Mars? Yeah.

Sometimes.

That's A Compliment.[ Laughs ]

I'm Telling You, We Get Some Rollers In Your Hair,

It's Full "Uptown Funk" On This Boat Right Now.

♪♪

Mr. Aratake's Boat Has A Glass Bottom,

And I Head Below Decks For My First Look

At Just How Difficult This Dive Can Be.

Really Hard To Maneuver In Here,

Especially With These Huge Underwater Rock Formations.

This Can Be One Of The Most Challenging Dives In The World,

Because There's Incredible Rip Currents Here.

The Boat Is Gonna Get Into The Best Position It Can,

We're Gonna Exit, And Then Current Is Gonna Take Us

To A Different Position Where The Boat Will Pick Us Up.

Okay, Let's Get Suited Up. Come On.

I Head Topside And Get Geared Up For The Dive.

I Overheard There's A Deep Current.

The Way That I Understand It From Him,

You Don't Really Get A Second Pass At It,

'Cause The Current Just Pulls You Along The Side.

I See.

So I Think We Drop Down Deep

And Then We Just Follow Aratake And Document As We Go.

Look Back In Once In A While, Bro.

All Right? Don't Lose Me.

Yeah.

I Don't Know What To Expect, But Honestly,

I'm Skeptical That Whatever I'm About To See

Is Really A Man-Made Atlantis.

Let's Go.

Yeah, I'm Ready. Let's Do It.

We've Entered The Water Just West Of The Dive Site

So The Powerful Current Will Drag Us Toward It.

I Follow Aratake Through The Tunnel,

And Once We Emerge On The Other Side,

I Get My First Look At The Mystery That Is

The Yonaguni Ruins.

Gates: I'm Off The Coast Of A Remote Island,

Exploring What's Known As The Japanese Atlantis --

A Massive Underwater Rock Formation

Called The Yonaguni Ruins.

I Follow My Guide Through A Strange Tunnel,

And Once We Emerge On The Other Side,

I'm Stunned By What I See.

After A Short Swim Around The Point,

The Full Scope Of Yonaguni Comes Into View.

The Western Side Of The Site Opens Up To What's Called

The Main Terrace And What Appear To Be Steps

Cut At 90-Degree Angles.

There's A Fierce Debate As To Whether These Are

The Remains Of A Civilization Older Than The Pyramids

Or Simply A Bizarre Natural Formation.

We Get Swept Along By The Current,

Which Pulls Us From One Bizarre Site To The Next.

The Steps Lead To What's Called The Upper Terrace.

This Is The Top Of The Monument, And It's Covered In

What Certainly Looks Like Cut Channels,

Which Some Believe Were Used For Drainage.

As The Current Continues To Push Us East,

We Come To A Place Called The Pool.

This Wedge-Shaped Depression

Could've Stored Water For Ceremonies.

Several Perfectly Round Holes Around The Perimeter

Look To Be Drilled Down Into The Rock.

Analysis Of The Rock Sample Could Determine

How Old The Site Is And, Just As Importantly,

How It Came To Be.

Floating Upwards Out Of The Trench,

I'm Met With An Undeniably Artistic-Looking Formation.

This Is Known As The Turtle.

The Lines And Angles Look, Well, They Look Perfect.

And To Be Honest, My Skepticism Is Suddenly Fading.

There's One More Part Of The Ruins

That Aratake Wants Me To See.

We Swim Around To The East, And I'm Shocked To See Something

That Appears To Be Looking Back At Me.

My Head Is Spinning With Everything That I've Just Seen,

But The Current Is Picking Up And Our Air Is Getting Low.

As We Get Pulled By The Swirling Water,

Aratake Releases An Emergency Buoy

To Let His Team Know Where To Collect Us.

The Boat Adjusts Course Toward Our Beacon

And Carefully Navigates Into Position.

Since The Vessel Is Unable To Anchor In These Conditions,

Getting Back On The Boat Is Like Climbing On To A Moving Train.

Miss The Ladder, And You've Got A Decent Chance

Of Getting Diced Up In The Propeller.

♪♪

Once We're Safely Aboard,

I'm Left To Figure Out Exactly What It Is I Just Saw.

What Is Going On Down There?

I Almost Need To Talk Myself Out Of What I've Just Seen,

Because That Looks Man-Made To Me.

But I Don't Know How The Hell That's Possible.

So Now We Just Need To Figure Out What It Actually Is.

Easier Said Than Done.

To Get To The Bottom Of The Mystery,

I'll Have To Meet With Experts In Both Camps.

I'm Going To Start With The Latest Evidence

That The Site Is, In Fact, A Sunken Ruin.

♪♪

Okay, First Order Of Business

Is To Take A Closer Look At The Island Above The Water.

Figure Out If There's Anything Up Here

That Could Really Give Us Any Clues As To Whether Or Not

The Yonaguni Ruins Were Made By Man.

Before It Was Part Of Japan,

Yonaguni And Other Volcanic Islands

Were A Part Of The Ryukyu Kingdom.

The Ryukyus Were An Independent Civilization

That Spent 400 Years Torn Between China To The West

And Japan To The North Before Being Annexed By Japan In 1879.

And There's Still Evidence Of Their Culture Today.

I Pass By Hundreds Of Strange Tombs

In Yonaguni's Lonely Graveyard.

They Resemble Curved Turtle Shells,

And There Are Terraced Steps

That Resemble The Shape Of The Underwater Formation.

I've Heard That Locals Here Have Discovered

A Stone Carving In The Jungle Said To Be Almost Identical

To The Face Found Underwater At Yonaguni.

Masaahiro Tanaka Is A Researcher Here

Who's Volunteered To Share The Findings With Me.

Nice To Meet You.

Nice To Meet You, Too.

I've Read That There's This Rock Structure High Up On The Island

That May Be Related To The Yonaguni Ruins.

I've Heard You're The Guy To Talk To About It.

[ Speaking Japanese ]

Interpreter: Yes. It's A Formation That We Think Is Carved.

It Appears To Be An Alien Face.

Like An Alien Face?

Hai. Really?

Okay, Well, Let's Saddle Up.

[ Horse Neighs ]

Gates: The Carving Is Hard To Reach, Located High Atop A Steep Cliff

That Overlooks The Yonaguni Coast.

Feels Like Another World In Here.

Yeah.

Really, Really Dense.

The Coral Path Definitely --

This Would Not Have Been A Fun Ride On The Motorbike.

That's A Tree.

I'm Fine. Don't Worry About It. I Got It.

[ Horse Neighs ]Okay. Whoa, Whoa, Whoa, Whoa.

Whoa, Whoa, Whoa, Whoa. Cookie, Come On.

This Horse Is, Like, Dying To Run.

Okay. Oh, No, No.

Yonaguni Has This Very Small Breed Of Horse,

But They're Very Powerful And Very Fast.

What's His Name?

Daruta.

Daruta?

Is That Japanese For "Seabiscuit"?

God, I'm Doing Everything In My Power

To Keep This Horse From Just Breaking Out Into A Full Gallop.

This Horse Wants To Move.

This Is Crazy!

Slow -- Slow It Down There, Girl.

Good Lord!

Gates: In The Jungle Of A Japanese Island,

I'm Searching For An Ancient Rock Carving

That Could Help Prove That The Sunken Yonaguni Ruins

Are From A Lost Civilization.

Okay. Whoa, Whoa, Whoa, Whoa.

Whoa, Whoa, Whoa, Whoa. This Horse Wants To Move.

This Is Crazy!

Slow -- Slow It Down There, Girl.

Good Lord!

Come On.

This Horse Is Like A [Bleep] Rocket.

My Horse Wants To Race.

Whoa.

After Placing In The Inaugural Yonaguni Derby,

My Horse Finally Slows His Pace.

We Dismount And Walk Into The Jungle On Foot.

Wow.

[ Chuckles ] Whoa.

That Looks Like A Face -- Big Time.

[ Speaking Japanese ]

Oh, A Tongue.

It's Like A Tongue Coming Out Of The Mouth.

There Are Some Really Compelling Elements Here.

This Especially Looks Really Sculpted Here.

We Have This Almond-Shaped Socket,

And You Can See The Same Kind Of Arc Over Here On This Side.

And It Looks Like A Brow,

And It Has The General Shape Of A Face

And, As You Said, A Tongue Sticking Out.

It's Really Compelling.

There's No Missing It And No Mistaking It

For Anything Other Than A Human Face.

Much Like The Ruins, Though,

Its Origins Are A Complete Unknown.

This Looks Like Something From "The Goonies."

You Know "The Goonies"?

Yona-Goonies?

No?

Okay, So Masaahiro May Not Be Up

On His '80S American Pop-Movie References,

But That Is A Solid Joke, People.

[ Gong Sounds ]

And You Think This Could Be Related To Yonaguni,

To The Ruins?

[ Speaking Japanese ]

Interpreter: This Mountain Overlooks The Ruins.

Many Believe That This Face Is A Totem,

A Guardian For Underwater Ruins.

This Is Sort Of Watching Over The Ruins, Then?

Yes, This Is Considered A Holy Site.

Remove Your Shoes.

Let Me Show You Something Else.

Okay, I'm Behind You. Shoes Off. Here We Go.

Wow.

This Is Amazing Up Here.

This Is The Best View On The Island.

Yes.

What Is This?

It's Believed That This Was Used For Rituals.

A Place For An Offering.

It's A Perfectly Circular Depression.

This Is A Very Strange Site.

I'd Love To Photograph The Entire Rock

So That We Can Get A Better Look,

You Know, At Its Exact Shape.

Gates: I Photograph The Rock To Create A Detailed

Three-Dimensional Model.

By Comparing This To The Supposed Underwater Face,

We Should Be Able To Tell

If These Were Deliberately Constructed.

Everything I've Seen So Far

Has Been Incredible But Also Circumstantial.

To Get Hard Facts About Yonaguni,

I Need To Consult With A Leading Scientist

Who's Thoroughly Studied The Ruins.

[ Laughs ]

[ Horse Neighs ]Okay.

♪♪

I Catch A Quick Flight From Yonaguni

To The Largest Of The Ryukyu Islands, Okinawa.

Okinawa Is Sort Of The Other Japan.

When We Think Of Japan, We Tend To Think Of Technology

And Neon Lights, And Here, It's Tropical.

Feels Like You're In Hawaii,

And The Locals Are Really Laid Back.

It's Kind Of A Looking-Glass Version

Of The Japan We Think We Know.

My Meeting With The Professor Isn't For Another Hour,

So I Take A Moment To Explain Okinawa's Culture, Its People,

And Its Creepy Toys.

This Is A Vending Machine That Dispenses Toys

In The Shape Of Horribly Depressed Japanese Businessmen.

Collect The Whole Set.

I'm Just Hoping Got This Guy,

Who Lost It All In The Stock Market.

Oh, Yes, Here We Go.

This Is Literally A Sad Guy Just Staring At His Smartphone.

"Why?"

Oh, God. Sir, No!

Don't Do It! Don't Jump!

Another Vending Machine Dispenses, Well...

Japan, Let's Have A Conversation Here.

I Understand Cultural Differences,

But You Got To Cool It With This.

This Is Weird.

Next Door, The Market

Has Several Local Delicacies On Display.

Among Them, Umibodo -- Savory Sea Grapes.

And From This, You Can Make A Tiny Bottle Of Wine.

It's This Big.

Like All Of Southern Japan,

Life In Okinawa Is Dependent On The Ocean.

Can I See What You're Cutting?

Yeah?

And That Means Really Fresh Sushi.

I Could Do This. I Could Be A Sushi Chef.

I'm Good? Yeah.

Well, All Right. Can I Have A Job Here?

Yes? Yes.

I Can? Yeah.

Hello.

We Are Closed Right Now, Because I'm Eating All Of The Food.

Apologies.

After Quickly Losing My Job As A Sushi Chef,

I'm Back On The Road.

I'm Headed To Meet With A Professor Kimura

From The University Of The Ryukyus.

This Is Really The Guy Who Has Been At The Forefront

Of Advocating For The Yonaguni Ruins

Being A Man-Made Structure.

Nobody Has Done More Research Or Work On The Monument

Than This Guy.

Building The Yonaguni Monument

Would've Acquired Advanced Tools And Techniques

That Weren't Believed To Exist In Japan Thousands Of Years Ago.

If Professor Kimura's Groundbreaking Theory

Is Correct, It Would Totally Alter Our Understanding

Of Human History.

How Old Do You Think This Structure Is?

When Do You Think This Was Carved?

[ Speaking Japanese ]

Interpreter: We Found Coral Samples

On Some Of The Rocks At The Ruins And Carbon-Tested Them

To Determine That They Are More Than 3,000 Years Old.

What Do You Think Happened?

Do You Think That It Sank Into The Ocean?

I Believe The Monument Was A Religious Site

That Was Built On The Shore,

But Shifting Of The Earth From Plate Tectonics And Earthquakes

Caused It To Sink.

And What Do You Think About The People Who Built This?

Are They A Lost Civilization Of Some Kind,

Or Are These The People That Became The Ryukyu Islanders?

The Ryukyu People Lacked The Metal Tools

Needed To Carve The Monument.

It Would Have To Have Been Built

By Ancient People Who Came From The Mainland.

When You First Saw The Site, What Were The Things

That Led You To Believe That It's Man-Made?

There Are Strange Marks Across The Ruins

That Indicate The Monument Was Cut Using Tools.

We Also Recovered Something Amazing

That May Prove That The Ruins Were Built By Hand.

Whoa.

Gates: In Okinawa, Japan,

I'm Meeting With A Professor Who Believes He Has Evidence

That The Atlantis-Like Structure Known As The Yonaguni Ruins

Is, In Fact, Man-Made.

That's A Cross Or An "X."

The Professor Reveals A Rock Fragment

With An Unmistakable Cross Carved Into It.

That Looks 100% Like It Was Carved There.

That's Very Compelling.

Are There Other Structures Like This In The Area,

Or Is This Totally Unique?

[ Speaking Japanese ]

Interpreter: You Have To Look At Other Ruins From The Culture

That Followed Yonaguni.

You'll Find There Are Some Very Striking Similarities.

Gates: Before I Go, I Have To Ask One Last Question

For All The Yonaguni Truthers Out There.

The Number-One Question --

Was This Made By Aliens?

Wink If You Believe It Is And They're Listening.

Okay, So While There's No Evidence

Here Of Alien Construction, Kimura Directs Me To A Place

That Might Have A Real Link To Yonaguni.

♪♪

These Are The Remains Of Katsuren Castle,

Built About 600 Years Ago In The 15Th Century

By The Ryukyu Kingdom.

And You Find Castles Like This

All Throughout These Southern Islands.

Now, If The Yonaguni Ruins Are Man-Made,

They Would've Been Built Thousands Of Years

Before Castles Like This.

And There Is A Kind Of Eerie Similarity

Between The Shape Of The Yonaguni Ruins

And The Design Of These Fortresses.

The Dark Stone, The Tightly Fitted Angular Blocks,

The Terrace-Like Architecture --

It All Feels Evocative Of The Underwater Formation.

Professor Kimura And Others Believe

The Advanced Civilization That Built Yonaguni

Didn't Completely Disappear After All.

But Others Have A Different View,

And One Scientist Has Discovered Something

That Might Refute What I've Learned About Yonaguni.

To Reach Him, I'm Headed For Yet Another Island.

I Fly North To Japan's Main Island

And Its Second-Largest City Of Osaka.

It's A Drizzly, "Blade Runner" Kind Of Morning

As Some Of The City's 2.7 Million Residents

Make Their Way To Work.

Like Much Of Japan,

Osaka Feels Part Utilitarian And Part "Futurescape."

The Japanese Also Love Rules.

No Smoking, No Bicycles,

And No Dancing.

Ah, What The Hell?

♪♪

The City Is Also Famous For Its Eclectic Food.

Arigato.

Okay, Let's See What We've Got Here.

I Opt For The Omakase, Which Means "Chef's Choice."

As In, Not Yours.

Yes, That Is An Octopus. Oh, Boy.

The Guy At The Bar Manages To Kill My Lunch

Before I Have A Chance To Give Him A Name.

This Is Crazy.

I've Never Seen Anything Like That In My Life.

All Right, This Looks Great.

Here We Go.

Mm.

It's Fresh.

Very Chewy.

Very Alive.

The Suckers Are Sticking To My Tongue.

Oh, He's Still Got Some Fight Left In Him There.

Oh, My God.

I Feel Like Captain Nemo Right Now.

This Is The First And Only Time That I've Had A Meal

That Sucked And Didn't Suck At The Same Time.

[ Thunder Rumbles ]

After Lunch, I Head To A Rural Hillside Just East Of The City,

Where I Meet With Archaeologist Professor Michio Maezano,

Who Has Something Incredible To Show Me.

Together, We Head Into The Soggy Jungle

And Slog Our Way Up A Steep Embankment.

At The Top Is Something Totally Otherworldly.

What Is That?

[ Thunder Rumbles ]

That's The Weirdest Thing I've Ever Seen.

What Am I Looking At Here?

What Is This?

[ Speaking Japanese ]

[ Thunder Rumbles ]

Maezano Believes The Tomb Was Carved

Nearly 1,500 Years Ago As A Burial.

But Who Are We Kidding?

This Thing Looks Like A Crazy Alien Spaceship.

What Is It Made Of? Is It Granite?

Granite Is Really Hard.

How Did They Cut So Cleanly Through The Granite?

[ Speaking Japanese ]

Iron Tools?

The Rock Ship Is Truly Bizarre,

And It Shows That People In This Region

Could Craft Even Hard Stone Into Very Angular Shapes.

[ Thunder Crashes ]

This Thing Is Strange.

Two Huge, Carved, Square Indentations

That Go Down Into The Structure,

And All Sorts Of Other Carved Features,

But It Really Doesn't Look Like Anything Else

That You See In Terms Of Tombs In Japan.

It's Totally Unique.

But Even If This Does Kind Of Look Like Yonaguni,

Like The Castle, It Was Made Thousands Of Years Later

When Iron Tools Had Been Invented.

So How Did The Stone At Yonaguni Get Shaped?

I Take The Rock Sample I Collected

From The Underwater Ruins

And Go To Meet With Geologist Masahide Furukawa To Learn More.

Professor, Nice To Meet You.

Nice To Meet You.

I Brought You A Present. I Brought You Some Rocks.

These Are From Yonaguni.

I Want To Understand If You Think That What's At Yonaguni

Could Be Man-Made

Or If You're Convinced That It's Natural.

[ Speaking Japanese ]

Interpreter: He Believes That The Waves

Hit The Sandstone And Overlap On Each Other

And Make The Stairs.

In Every Sandstone,

There's A Thin Layer Of Mud In Between,

And That's Where It Starts Cracking

And That's Where It Breaks.

See, You Can See These Thin, Straight Cracks In It.

And So That's Why Sandstone Comes Off In Thin Pieces.

Yes. Mm-Hmm.

I See.

According To The Professor,

The Yonaguni Ruins Are The Result

Of The Pacific Ocean's Powerful Current Relentlessly Smashing

Into The Brittle Sandstone.

To Demonstrate, He's Going To Put My Rock Samples To The Test.

And I Will Say This --

It Did Crack Off In A Perfectly Straight Line,

And It Did Create The Beginning Of

What Looks Like A Step Down.

And A Flat Step Down At That.

That's Very Compelling.

My Little Sample Is One Thing,

But Professor Furukawa Offers To Let Me Strike

And Even Larger Slab To See If The Results Can Be Repeated.

I Don't Know What's Going To Happen Here, Sir.

I'm Not Authorized To Do This.

Ooh.

So Flat Pieces.

We Have These 90-Degree Angles Here.

It Looks Very Squared Off.

I Think You Might Be On To Something Here.

Thanks To The Professor, I've Seen That Ocean Currents

Can Act As A Hammer Against Sandstone

And Carve Strangely Angular-Looking Structures.

And There Are Other Geological Forces At Work Here, Too.

To Learn About Them, I Need To Meet Volcanologist

Dr. Akihiko Yokoo Of Kyoto University.

He's A Busy Man, So I'm Meeting Him In His Office,

Which Today Happens To Be A Helicopter

Headed Straight For An Active Volcano.

♪♪

He Explains To Me The Incredible Volatility

Going On Beneath The Surface Of Japan.

This Is A Very Sketchy Place To Be Hanging Out.

The Heat And Steam From The Volcano

Create Dangerous Thermal Conditions For The Helicopter.

Gates: 300 Miles Southwest Of Osaka,

I'm Hovering Over The Very Active Mount Aso Volcano.

With A Caldera 12 Miles In Diameter

And 80 Miles In Circumference,

It Is One Of The Largest Volcanoes In The World.

And An Eruption Now

Would Certainly Be My Last Day On The Job.

[ Chuckles ]

Volcanoes And Earthquakes Are A Part Of The Fabric Of Japan.

The Country Sits On Four Tectonic Plates

That Are Constantly Shifting As They're Forced Together.

Some Believe The Impact

Helped Create The Yonaguni Ruins Naturally.

In Fact, Just Recently, Tectonic Activity

Created A Whole New Island Off The Coast Of Japan.

[ Speaking Japanese ]

Interpreter: I Think That Entire Island

Has Been Shaped By Tectonic Activity.

I Think It's Entirely Natural.

Gates: Think Of The Ocean Floor Near Yonaguni As The Rock

In The Geology Lab And The Earthquakes

And The Ocean Currents As The Hammer.

I Can Now See How So Many Perfect Right Angles

Might Suddenly Appear Down There.

I'm Not Sure.

Speaking With The Scientists In Osaka Has Left Me Conflicted.

There Is Compelling Visual Evidence

That Yonaguni Is Man-Made,

But There's Also Natural Explanations For The Formation.

Armed With So Much New Information,

I Need To See The Ruins Again

To Make A Final Determination For Myself.

Flying Back To The Ryukyu Islands,

I Return To Where My Investigation Started.

It's Time For Me To Determine Once And For All

If The Yonaguni Ruins Are Man-Made.

I Rejoin Mr. Aratake, The Discoverer Of The Ruins,

And His Son Shorty,

Who Are Taking Me Back To The Site.

Today's Dive Is Particularly Dangerous.

An Incoming Storm Has Made The Currents

Even Worse Than Usual.

♪♪

♪♪

It Doesn't Take Long

To Get To One Of Yonaguni's Perfect Right Angles.

Up Close, The Edges Show The Same Kinds

Of Ridging And Sheering That My Samples Did

In The Geology Lab.

Chalk One Up For The Natural-Phenomenon Crowd.

These Cracks Look Like A Submerged Version

Of What I Saw At The Mount Aso Volcano.

We Head Inside To Investigate.

♪♪

♪♪

The Caverns Get Tighter And Tighter,

And We're On The Verge Of Turning Around.

Finding This Stalactite

Is Proof That This Cave Was Once Above Sea Level.

It Doesn't Settle The Question Of Whether Yonaguni Is Man-Made,

But It Does Mean That It's Likely

That It Did Slide Into The Sea.

My Last Order Of Business Is To Return

To The Formation Resembling A Human Face

To See How It Compares To The Face I Scanned On Land.

I Take As Many Photos As I Can To Juxtapose The Two Faces

And Determine If They Really Are Carved.

With Nothing But Ocean On One Side

And Powerful Waves Crashing Into The Rocky Shores On The Other,

We Need To Hold On Tight And Ride It Out.

We Swim To Open Water,

But As It Turns Out, We're Not Alone.

Gates: Want Even More "Expedition Unknown"?

You Can Check Out My Personal Photos, Deleted Scenes,

And More At Travelchannel.Com.

I'm Diving Off The Coast Of Yonaguni Island,

Known For Its Powerful And Deadly Currents.

And I've Just Come Face To Face

With Something Even More Deadly --

A Sea Snake.

Black-Banded Sea Kraits

Possess Venom 10 Times More Powerful Than A Cobra.

The Really Bad News Is It Can Swim Faster

And Maneuver Better Than I Ever Could.

So Shorty Pulls The Cord On The Beacon,

And We Make Our Way Back To The Boat.

What A Dive. Really Bad Currents.

You Okay?

Really Intense.

Now That I've Photographed

The Two Mysterious Rock Faces Found On Yonaguni,

I Can Compare Them Side-By-Side.

Time To See What's Really Going On Here.

Okay, So We've Stitched Together The Photos

That We Took Underwater,

And Now We're Gonna Compare Those

With The Photos Of The Supposed Face

That We Took Photos Of On Land High Up On The Cliffs.

So Here's A Rendering Of The Underwater Photo

Stitched Together,

And You Can See It Does Look Like A Face.

The Nose Isn't Quite As Convincing

Once You've Seen The Full Texture Mapping On It,

But There Is An Outline There That Certainly Could Be

The Remains Of What Was A Nose.

No Real Clear Chisel Marks, Though.

And When We Look At The Photos That We Took On Land,

Something Really Interesting Emerges.

The Face,

Which Looked Really Compelling Up On The Cliffs,

When We See It Fully Mapped With 3-D Texture,

It Actually Doesn't Look As Much Like A Face.

It Doesn't Really Have A Mouth

Or Any Solid Features Down There.

That Rock That's Supposed To Be A Tongue Is Sort Of Blocking

What Really Is The Whole Missing Bottom Half Of This.

Now Let's Take The Two Images And Overlap Them.

When We Map The Two Over Each Other, We See That, In Fact,

They Don't Really Bare Very Much Resemblance To One Another.

And I Think, More Than Anything,

What We're Looking At Here

Might Be A Couple Of Round Indentations In Rocks

That Happen To Take On The Look Of A Face.

To Get To The Bottom Of The Mystery

That Is The Yonaguni Ruins,

I've Hopped My Way Across The Islands Of Southern Japan,

And I've Had The Adventure Of A Lifetime.

Ultimately, Everything I've Learned About The Ruins

Brings Me Full Circle

To The Belief That They Aren't Man-Made At All,

But A Natural Formation Of Astounding Uniqueness.

Likely, They Are A Product Of Tectonic Shifting

And Pounding Currents That Have Shaped The Seabed

Into A Kind Of Geological Snowflake.

The Rock Faces?

They're Interesting,

But Detailed Scans Show They're Likely Natural.

And The Symbol Found On The Loose Rock?

Very Compelling, But Not Attached To Anything.

So Who Knows How It Got There.

But The Ship At Masuda Is Man-Made,

As Are The Strange Tombs And Castles

Across Southern Japan.

And There's So Much We Don't Know

About These Later Cultures.

As For Yonaguni,

Half Of It Is Still Buried In Sand.

To The Faithful, I Say Keep Looking.

I Don't Think It's The Japanese Atlantis,

But That Doesn't Make It Any Less Of A Wonder.