After reading the article “Amelia Earhart in the Marianas”, I certainly agree that all anecdotal evidence purporting to point to AE being captured in the Marianas is either based on cases of mistaken identity or nonsense. The fact that the most recent book by Mike Campbell (Amelia Earhart: The Truth at Last) reiterates the belief that Earhart died on Saipan is just another reminder of attempts by Earhart naysayers to downplay the tantalizing nature of the artifacts found at Nikumaroro and adhere to the Saipan Hypothesis by touting the “evidence” in Campbell's book as real. Also, there is evidence that the Japanese did cooperate in the Earhart search (see
http://pacificwrecks.com/aircraft/electra/earhart/). For example, as PacificWrecks.com puts it, “During July 1937, relations between Japan and the United States were still favorable. When she was reported lost, the Japanese assisted with the search. Japanese oceanographic survey ship Koshu assisted in the 1937 search in the Mariana Islands, but failed to find anything. When Emperor Hirohito's younger brother, Prince Nobuhito Takamatsu, a staff officer at the Naval General Staff, received the news of Earhart’s disappearance, he persuaded Fleet Admiral, Prince, Fushimi Hiroyasu to order Kamoi to search for Earhart. The order contained no information about where she was lost, and a few hours later, was canceled.”
Don't expect all WW2 veterans who fought in the Marianas to concede that Earhart did not die in Saipan, even if they have the opportunity to read the article by King et. al. Some veterans may admit that they mistook a number of twin-engined, twin-tailed Japanese aircraft for Earhart's Electra (the Tachikawa Ki-56 and Ki-70 as well as the Mitsubishi G3M were twin-tailed and twin-engined; the Ki-56 itself was a Japanese derivative of the Lockheed Model 14 Super Electra that was in turn derived from the 10E), but Marianas hypothesis diehards may still stick to their opinions regarding the Marianas hypothesis. It is my hope that no one believes the Marianas hypothesis because it involves too many varying accounts by too many people, but this is unlikely to happen until those WW2 veterans pass away.