75 years after the war, maintenance and management of the "place of memorial service" is at its limit "no bearer" August 14 17:53

It will be 75 years since the end of the war on the 15th, but NHK interviewed the bereaved families in all prefectures nationwide about the maintenance of "places of memorial service" such as memorials built to mourn the war dead. 66% of the bereaved families replied that "there is no bearer for the next generation", which highlights the current situation that maintenance management centered on the bereaved family is approaching its limit.

From last month to early this month, NHK interviewed the bereaved families in 47 prefectures nationwide, and found that future maintenance of the "place of memorial service" including memorials built by the bereaved families and local people to mourn the war dead Forty-four prefectures answered that they had problems.

When asked about the content of the issue with multiple answers,
▽31 prefectures, or 66% of the total, answered that "there is no leader in the next generation due to the aging of bereaved families,
" ▽"the grandchildren and great-grandchildren of the war dead The generations are in the bereaved family society, but it is difficult to entrust them because they are not active in their jobs, etc.” answered 29 prefectures.

Of these, in Hokkaido, about 20 out of the 179 bereaved associations in each municipality were dissolved, and in some cases the memorial monument could not be managed and was left unattended.

In addition, Oita Prefecture and Kagoshima Prefecture answered that it is difficult to cover the cost of repairing the memorial monument that has deteriorated due to the decrease in the number of bereaved families. doing.

Moreover, when asked about the movement toward the resolution of these issues, bereaved family meeting of 24 prefectures are
"are thinking of committing the government and local municipalities,"
he answered "already requested the government",
memorial It was found that discussions with the government are progressing in various places around the maintenance and management of the place.

Removal and relocation One after another throughout the country

There are a number of removals and relocations of memorial monuments that have become unmaintainable for bereaved families and local people all over the country.

In Komatsu City, Ishikawa Prefecture, the memorial monument was removed three years ago. The memorial monument, which stood in the corner of the municipal graveyard, was built by local people such as the bereaved family to mourn the war dead after the Sino-Japanese War, but it declined due to deterioration and the city was said to be collapsed. It was removed in consultation with the locals.

Locals who visited the cemetery by visiting the grave said, "I thought that it has been around there for a long time, but I did not notice that the memorial monument has disappeared," or "probably nobody guards I think it has become."

According to the Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare, there is a system in place where the national government subsidizes up to 500,000 yen when relocating and removing memorial monuments, etc. that the administrator is aging and cannot manage. Since then, there are eight memorial monuments and memorial towers that have been removed or relocated throughout the country using the system over the last four years.

Surviving or removing? Conflict survivors

The bereaved families in each region are struggling as the number of people who protect the "place of memorial service" decreases as the population ages.

The "Fukui Tadashi Reimu" in Fukui City is a cemetery established during the war to mourn over 1500 soldiers who died in the war, and has been managed by local bereaved families. Initially, the focus was on the wife of a war dead whose husband died, but now the generation of children is in their late 70s and 80s.

Kayoko Kumagai (78), who is the vice-chairman of the bereaved family, is also one of the generations of war dead, and his father, Yoshio, went to the south as a navy soldier and died at the age of 33. I've been to the Shinrei-ba many times since I was a junior high school student with my mother, but nowadays my knees are getting worse and it's getting harder to come.

At the Bereaved Society, we started a full-scale discussion about what we would like to do at Fukui Tadashiba, and at the discussion with the five survivors held in June, there was a debate on whether it survived or removed.

The bereaved family commented, "It is difficult to manage the worship hall, religion hall, and belfry of the royal retreat, and there is no choice but to destroy it in the end," as well as specific issues such as "how will you cover the costs?" We did not conclude, but on the other hand, there were voices of distress over the loss of the thoughtful “place of memorial service”.

After the discussion, Mr. Kumagai, Vice Chairman of the Bereaved Society, said, "It was really painful when it came to the story that when I went to the country, I went to the expense of my family, but I can't do that now. It was."

At the meeting, we decided to maintain a "place of memorial service" by repeating discussions, disbanding the bereaved society soon, and entrusting the administration and maintenance to the administration. After that, we have discussed with Fukui City about the consignment, but we have not reached the conclusion yet.

Kazuaki Iwasaki (79), one of the survivors of the Fukui Tadashi Memorial Site, said, "We have to protect it because it is the grave of a person who has died for the country, but we can not protect it anymore. We died in the war here. I want you to know that there is a grave for people. I want to make it a place for that."

Japan Bereaved Society “Mainly managed by national and local governments”

The Japan Bereaved Society has been requesting the national government every year since 2017 to maintain and manage the memorial monument.

The Bereaved Society of Japan said, “The management of the memorial monument has been managed by the bereaved family until now, but it is difficult for the aging bereaved family to maintain it as it is, to convey the misery of war and the value of peace to future generations. In the future, I would like the national and local governments to take the lead in managing this."