--- title: Amelia Earhart Theory Taken on by Japanese Blogger description: There's evidence that a photo crucial to the theory was published two years before Earhart even went missing. canonical: https://time.com/4855378/amelia-earhart-theory-blogger/ author: Sarah Begley article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2017-07-12T20:27:15.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-02-23T16:31:42.283Z article:section: History og:title: Japanese Blogger Takes on the Latest Amelia Earhart Theory og:description: The photo seems to have been published two years before Earhart went missing og:url: https://time.com/4855378/amelia-earhart-theory-blogger/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltca508b8fcef104fc/6988d47e7cdbac397fd59126/les-kinneynational-archives.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: Amelia Earhart Dock Photo og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Japanese Blogger Takes on the Latest Amelia Earhart Theory twitter:description: The photo seems to have been published two years before Earhart went missing twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltca508b8fcef104fc/6988d47e7cdbac397fd59126/les-kinneynational-archives.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Amelia Earhart Theory Challenged by Japanese History Enthusiast by [Sarah Begley](https://time.com/author/sarah-begley/) ## Sarah Begley Jul 12, 2017 8:27 PM UTC  Les Kinney/National Archives by [Sarah Begley](https://time.com/author/sarah-begley/) ## Sarah Begley Jul 12, 2017 8:27 PM UTC A week after a new theory about [Amelia Earhart’s](http://time.com/4829029/amelia-earhart-anniversary/) 1937 disappearance made waves, a [Japanese blogger](http://www.npr.org/sections/thetwo-way/2017/07/11/536620463/japanese-blogger-points-out-timeline-flaw-in-supposed-earhart-photo) has produced evidence that seems to debunk its credibility. Investigators working on a History Channel special about the iconic aviator posited that a photo found in a National Archives file depicted Earhart and her navigator, Fred Noonan, on a dock in the Marshall Islands, with a ship towing her plane in the background. As TIME [noted](http://time.com/4845237/amelia-earhart-photo/) when the theory was put forward, they theorized that the photo could mean that Earhart did not perish in a crash, but was instead rescued by a Japanese ship. However, as a Japanese blogger pointed out in a [post](http://yamanekobunko.blog52.fc2.com/blog-entry-338.html) on Tuesday, the photo in question was published in a 1935 photo book, which means it “was taken at least two years before Amelia Earhart disappeared in 1937.” As NPR reports, the photo book has been [digitized online](http://dl.ndl.go.jp/info:ndljp/pid/1223403/99?itemId=info%3Andljp%2Fpid%2F1223403&contentNo=99&%5F%5Flang=en), and its publication date is listed as Showa 10 — in other words, the tenth year of the Showa period, or 1935. The History Channel told NPR that it is investigating the evidence. \[[NPR](http://www.npr.org/sections/thetwo-way/2017/07/11/536620463/japanese-blogger-points-out-timeline-flaw-in-supposed-earhart-photo)\] ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4855378/amelia-earhart-theory-blogger/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4855378/amelia-earhart-theory-blogger/"},"headline":"Amelia Earhart Theory Challenged by Japanese History Enthusiast","datePublished":"2017-07-12T20:27:15.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-23T16:31:42.283Z","description":"There's evidence that a photo crucial to the theory was published two years before Earhart even went missing","url":"https://time.com/4855378/amelia-earhart-theory-blogger/","keywords":["Aviation","onetime"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltca508b8fcef104fc/6988d47e7cdbac397fd59126/les-kinneynational-archives.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Sarah Begley","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/sarah-begley/"}],"articleSection":"History","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltca508b8fcef104fc/6988d47e7cdbac397fd59126/les-kinneynational-archives.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Amelia Earhart Dock Photo","caption":"","creditText":"Les Kinney/National Archives","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/history/","name":"History"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4855378/amelia-earhart-theory-blogger/","name":"Amelia Earhart Theory Challenged by Japanese History Enthusiast"}}]}] ```