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Yomiuri Shimbun file photo The Health, Labor and Welfare Ministry in Tokyo
The Yomiuri Shimbun
7:00 JST, November 5, 2024
Only 11.2% of local governments have manuals or internal rules in place for dealing with “unclaimed bodies,” which have no one to claim them after death, according to a study by the Health, Labor and Welfare Ministry. As local governments are struggling with the cremation of unclaimed bodies and the storage of their remains, the ministry is considering providing unified procedures in the future, it has been learned.
The number of unclaimed bodies of people who have died alone and whose identities are unknown or whose relatives have refused to claim them is increasing due to the rise in the number of elderly people living alone and the decline in family ties.
The first such survey conducted by the Internal Affairs and Communications Ministry found that the number of unclaimed bodies totaled at about 106,000 between April 2018 to October 2021. According to a survey conducted by The Yomiuri Shimbun this year covering the ordinance-designated large cities, the prefectural capital cities and the 23 wards of Tokyo, the number of unclaimed bodies had increased by 30% in a five-year span to fiscal 2022.
Unclaimed bodies are cremated by the municipality in which the person died in accordance with the law on cemetery and burial, among other rules. Around the time of cremation, the municipality tries to find contact details of relatives and, when relatives can be contacted, asks them to pick up the body or ashes and belongings such as money. If the deceased person remains unidentified or relatives refuse to collect the body or ashes, the ashes and belongings are kept after cremation. If the deceased had any money remaining, it is used to pay for the cremation. If not, the money is provided through public funds.
In order to ascertain the issues faced by local governments, the welfare ministry conducted a survey of local governments nationwide. Responses were gathered from about 1,100 municipalities, including ordinance-designated cities, wards, towns and villages, and 11.2% of respondents said that they had a manual or internal rules in place to designate the scope of relatives to be contacted.
The lack of a manual was most common among small municipalities. In addition to the method of finding relatives, there were also cases where it was difficult to decide how long to keep the body or remains if contact could not be established. “As the problem has only recently become apparent, the production of manuals may not have kept up with the situation,” a senior welfare ministry official said.
The ministry will conduct hearings with experts and funeral service providers. After studying the issues further, it will consider creating unified guidelines and encouraging local governments to create manuals in line with local circumstances including funeral traditions.
According to the Cabinet Office, the number of elderly people aged 65 and over living alone was 1.62 million in 1990, but this figure had risen to 6.71 million in 2020. It is estimated that the figure will reach over 10 million by 2040, and measures to deal with this issue are becoming a pressing matter.
