Three Singaporeans went on a quest to find a legendary karate expert who was rumored to live on a mountainside in Japan. They didn't think they'd get lost.

One of the men tells TV Asahi that his dying father ordered him to find the karate teacher.

One man says, "Japan looked so small on the world map that we thought we would be able to find him straight away.

Reuters reports the men, aged 25 to 50-years-old, were not dressed for cold weather. Rescuers found them huddled together in an abandoned car on Mount Iwaki.

A police spokesman says, "Neither police nor local people know of anyone running karate classes in this area."