A 73-year-old man with relatives was judged to have no relatives, so Kyoto City cremated and interred his ashes. His younger brother lived in the same city as Kyoto, but the city had not contacted him.
Kyoto City apologized last month for not doing enough research to find his relatives. There are no unified national regulations regarding the scope of family register investigation to determine if there are any relatives or the deadline for cremation. The Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare is considering gathering information on the actual situation and issues when handling dead bodies and ashes.