War dead remains collection project The Philippines may also be mistaken for recognition September 19th 4:55

Although it is clear that the remains of the war dead were misunderstood, it was newly discovered that the Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare had previously recognized the possibility of mistaking not only the Siberia but also the remains collected in the Philippines. It was. However, the Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare continued to operate in the Philippines and brought back the remains of about 15,000 people to Japan.

As for the remains of the war dead, specialists who have DNA-analyzed the remains collected in Siberia have repeatedly pointed out that they are not Japanese, at least 14 years ago, and some remains collected in the Philippines It was also revealed that the experts compiled the results of DNA testing that “there were no Japanese remains”.

The number of remains collected in the Philippines increased rapidly after the Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare commissioned the NPO corporation in 2009, and the following year the suspicion that the remains were mistaken was revealed by NHK and other media reports. It became clear that the Ministry of Labor had recognized the possibility of mistakes immediately after entrusting the business to this NPO.

According to the minutes obtained by NHK, an executive of the Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare held a meeting held in June 2009. “Honestly, the Philippines etc. can be mixed. Over there, private organizations are moving very much. Is a little anxious. "

However, the Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare continued its business after recognizing the possibility of mistakes and brought back the remains of approximately 15,000 people collected by NPOs to Japan.

The Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare is going to publish the results of the verification soon, regarding the collection in Siberia among the problems suspected of mistaking the remains of the war dead.

History of Philippine remains

The remains collection project in the Philippines began in 1957. Initially, staff from the Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare witnessed the field, and then anthropologists in the Philippines judged whether they were Japanese remains, and collected more than 100,000 remains. It was.

However, since the information has decreased year by year and the collected remains have fallen to several tens of people per year, the Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare has entrusted the business to a Japanese NPO that is familiar with local information since FY2009.

After the entrustment to the NPO, the number of remains collected in the Philippines has soared, and so far about 15,000 remains have been brought back to Japan.

However, in 2010, suspicion that Filipinos were included in the collected remains was revealed by NHK and other media reports, and the collection business was temporarily suspended.

After that, two experts compiled the results of DNA tests that said there were no remains that seemed to be Japanese, with regard to the remains collected and stored locally by the NPO. It was not announced until NHK reported this issue in January.

The Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare explained that the fact that experts from the same NPO collected in the Philippines and returned to Japan has been issued an expert certificate is not allowed. However, since the remains are already burned, it is difficult to prove scientifically whether Filipino things are really mixed.