There were a great many mysteries about Heiya Island, particularly things that related to a lot of Japanese history and predated the more modern state that united in the late nineteenth century. From what records that were there, the island was claimed officially by Japan in the late 1800s to early 1900s, but other than unmanned radio stations or fishing stops there was little record of the Japanese people staying on the island for long. And during the Second World War, the Americans not only bypassed it but may have failed to notice it all together, writing it off as one of the other volcanic islands southeast of Japan. This was ultimately quite astonishing given how large Heiya Island proved to be. It wasn't huge and its coast could easily be walked in less than a day, but neither was it so small that certain elements of work couldn't be done on the island.
The fact that it had such potential was enough for Japan to allow it as a Animalian Colony, particularly while alterations in places like Tokyo and other places would require massive amounts of rebuilds, redesigns, and moving people around to get that work done, which was hampered first by the logistics of the proposed project in Tokyo and then with Covid hitting the world and with new variants actually creating trouble in Tokyo. The agreement allowed for the establishment of a "pan-Asian" colony for Animalians on the island which was developing quite well to a point where it had both its own "urban" and farming areas, with the main runway pretty much bisecting the island. It also made for a dynamic island community dominated by uplifted Animalians and converted Animalians, and while many were originally from Lyre/Animalia, there were a decent number that were from both Japan, both Chinas, and a fewer other Asian countries as well. It had also lead to the establishment of embassies for Japan, the People's Republic of China, and the Republic of China, though the last of the three was in a few select offices of the Japanese embassy on Heiya Island.
This then created its own conflicts or issues as Japan sent people and researchers to Heiya Island in relation to the various stories and mentions of the island being known and explored at a time period during which Japan was not known to have much experience or even interest in exploring beyond their coasts. Many were archeologists who were looking for anything that might further confirm either the stories or the vague mentions that gave hints that something like this happened, even if irritated some of those that were trying to manage their share of affairs on the island.
"I must protest at this!" the Chinese ambassador stated as he followed a small group of men, all Japanese and armed with shovels, maps, brushes, and other soft excavation equipment. Behind them came another man with a wheel barrow, while the Chinese ambassador continued to protest. "With all the sanctions your government has in place at the moment, one would think that this project is unwelcome and unsanctioned."
"The present sanctions and limitations are only with regard to Tokyo, and most of them have more to do with the fact that the Olympic Committee wants the Olympics to go on as rescheduled," the archeologist answered, "all that was needed for this expedition was to assure that everyone on my team has either been vaccinated or has not tested positive over the course of the last few weeks. And my team meets all that criteria, which Heiya Island has stated to be its rules and regulations regarding things."
"And that grants you the right to dig under the Chinese Embassy?" the ambassador continued.
"When the work crews constructed this embassy, they reported that they thought they hit something hard at the outside of one point but it was so brief that they couldn't be sure about it," the archeologist answered slowly as he looked over his shoulder to see the irritated look of the ambassador, who looked like he was following the team only to voice his displeasure. “But since they turned away when working on the foundation for your embassy, they couldn’t be fully certain on all of the details that may have been burried in the surrounding area.”
“Buried?” the ambassador asked, “from what we were told, this island was not Yuan Dynasty’s attacks on Japan in the 1270s to 1280s and possibly observed by Zheng He in the 1400s.”
"The stories are more Japanese in origin," the chief archeologist answered as they stopped just off the southwest corner of the Chinese Embassy, "and relate to our various periods of more "divided" government. There was the Emperor, who was in theory Emperor over all of Japan, but you had various feudal nobles that directly controlled their territory. It relates to when Japan found these islands, along with the islands like Iwo Jima and so on. However, because these stories have mostly been passed down by oral tradition, and really only resurfaced after the Animalians petitioned to have their colony here."
The Chinese Ambassador looked to the south and noted the other buildings that had been built around the embassy. Many of them had a mixture of Japanese and Chinese styles to them in some way. One was part of the main martial arts training areas that had both outdoor and indoor facilities and he could even see some Animalians there going about their daily lives. Many of them were probably focused on preparing for the IAC that he'd heard a lot about from those talking about it. Beyond these buildings he could see some of the rising ridges that went up along the southern edge of the island to the main and dead volcano that was on the southeast corner of the island. It all served as a reminder to him on what Heiya Island was, which again reminded him that while he could voice his opinion on Chinese policy and desires here, he had no control over anything that wasn't directly connected to the embassy.
"And what stories are these that would have you digging under the Chinese Embassy?" the ambassador asked as the archeologist and his team began setting things up. For the moment, much of the actual work was being done by a team of younger men, who the ambassador guessed were college students and that the chief archeologist was to be more of a supervisor for them and correct their efforts as needed.
"Much of it is pretty loose... but would relate to local Samurai, Shogun, or some other noble knowing about the island, and after ending up on the wrong end of an internal war in Japan either fled here or brought loot here in case of ever running into some other defeat," the archeologist commented, "I would lean toward that the lord left money or something valuable here to use the money as some kind of insurance before returning to Japan. Largely because with all the construction and farming work that's been done here, no one's found any sign of lost structures or actual habitation. So one point having a point of "hardness" in the ground should be likely be something like a burried box."
"We also won't be digging under the embassy, sir," one of the assistants said slowly, "the report was that they thought they nicked something hard while setting the outer edge of the foundation for it. So we just need to dick a bit just outside the embassy to find the supposed box."
The Chinese ambassador frowned but stood by and watched as the crew began digging with the spades they had brought. In pure theory, this wasn't part of his job as the ambassador to the Animalian colony, but for the moment most of those things that did relate to the normal part of his job were moving fairly slowly. The residents were preparing for the IAC, but it hadn't started yet, and much of the rest remained limited to preparation and hadn't required too many people coming in. This then let him observe and make sure that the embassy wasn't damaged and if the archeologist's stories were correct about there actually being something there. Their work was then relatively simple and pieces of sod and then earth, which looked pretty black was then dumped into the wheel barrow. They didn't go very deep before an audible "thunk" was heard and alerting everyone there.
That noise was something hard and betrayed finding something there, and as the archeologist and his team began focusing their digging around the spot where one of the diggers had hit what was likely a box. When they got down to that level more "thunks" followed. It was only once they'd excavated enough of a "hole" that they weren't hitting the hard point that the main shovels were but aside, which only peeked the ambassador's curiosity.
"If this is some box of treasure... wouldn't you want to dig it out quickly?" the ambassador asked as he watched the men start to lean the spade shovels against the wall of the embassy and then taking smaller hand trowels from the wheelbarrow. Another man brought the wheelbarrow even closer.
"Partially because while we know it's something hard... we can't be fully sure how good the wood is," the archeologist answered as they were all carefully using the hand trowels to move the black volcanic earth into the wheelbarrow, "and the stories on what the might have been brought as treasure vary. It could be old coins or it could be something more fragile and thus going through the wood with a spade wouldn't be a good idea."
The ambassador watched as they uncovered the box. It looked to be made of wood and had something cared into it, though a lot of this was obscured by some of the dirt. The archeologist brushed it away to reveal Japanese characters that revealed a man's name which drew some attention. It was after this that the archeologist got down into the hole, which was only about three feet deep and roughly a circle with a three foot radius. He carefully lifted the wooden box, that looked like it was two feet by one foot by six inches in its dimensions. The box creaked weakly as it was set on the earth just outside the hole and the ambassador noted that there looked to be a series of rope hinges on one end and a clear line, and this puzzled him. He was no archeological expert, but he was reasonably sure that by the time that Japan would have found these islands, likely after the 1400s, that the Japanese would have known how to fashion metal hinges.
"Why the rope hinges?" the ambassador wondered, "wouldn't they have been able to put together a more long lasting hinge?"
"Some of that might be in the name," the archeologist commented, "Hideki Nashioka... it doesn't line up with all of the stories, but I think some of the stories mention that name with regard to the name of the warrior. We'll have to go back into the records on the name and see if he really was a samurai or a noble... or just someone that had come across the weapons and joined the conflict... it's a lot of research to go back through... some of which may hard to get through, given the effects of the Second World War, but it'd be something to work with. As before now, we had no set name, and thus no agreement on who found this island for Japan."
With that the archeologist then opened the lid while the others gathered around to look in, some even sitting down on the ground to get a closer look. As it was opened it revealed that some dirt had managed to seep into the box between the boards of the box, but that wasn't the thing that drew the most attention. Many of them looked to be of varying designs, though all had a square hole in the center. There looked to be various character inscriptions on them, though some looked a bit weathered with age or possible use before they were brought to Heiya Island.
"They're coins," the Chinese Ambassador, "and they look like Ming era designs..."
"I'm not perfect with coinage, but I can see some of the similar ideas in some of the designs," the archeologist answered, "though a lot of that could just be coincidence. After all, modern American and Canadian coins may look similar in many ways, but weren't directly influenced. The same is true here. I can't make out the characters perfectly... but I believe they are Japanese, and from the Edo period. I'd need to share these with experts who know more on coins and after they've been properly cleaned."
"I suppose the embassy could set aside some rooms from which to run your analysis," the Chinese ambassador spoke, "as the People's Republic will have interest in potential state assets. Potentially if there is confirmation that these are Ming coins."
"The island is part of Japan," one of the other crew of the archeological team commented.
"Yes, but technically found on the grounds of the embassy to an Animalian colony," the ambassador answered, "by international law, the land is China's and thus anything found there is China's."
The archeologist looked back at the Chinese Ambassador and knew this was going to end up being a problem that the Animalian leaders that ran Heiya Island and the Japanese government probably wouldn't want. He also knew that the small areas of these embassies would be able to allow for proper cleaning or proper identification of the coins found. There were some base similarities between some Ming era and Edo era coins, but then there were also similarities between Roman and Greek coins, that didn't mean that one directly produced or lead to the other. And at the same time the name on the box was Japanese and if it related to the stories, would go back to well before Japan began opening up to the outside world. This made it extremely unlikely that these coins were Chinese, but yet an archeological discovery was likely now to put China, Japan, and Animalia at the focal point of some local political dispute...