Crown Prince, Crown Princess Attend Ceremony for Unidentified War Dead; 368 More Remains Enshrined

The Yomiuri Shimbun

18:05 JST, May 27, 2025

Crown Prince Akishino and Crown Princess Kiko were among attendees at a ceremony honoring unidentified war dead who perished during World War II or in Siberian internment camps following the war, at the Chidorigafuchi National Cemetery in Chiyoda Ward, Tokyo, on Monday.

The approximately 400 attendees also included Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba, government officials and representatives of surviving families, as this year marks 80 years since the end of the war.

Bones of 368 people, which had been retrieved from Russia, Iwoto island and other places by government teams dedicated to recovering the remains of war dead, were enshrined at the cemetery on the day. The bones had remained unidentified and were thus never returned to the surviving families. With their addition, the cemetery is now the resting place for the remains of 371,008 war dead.

Health, Labor and Welfare Minister Takamaro Fukuoka referred to the government’s project to locate war dead remains in his address at the ceremony.

“We will make the utmost effort to ensure that the remains of as many people as possible can return to their hometowns quickly,” he said.

According to the Health, Labor and Welfare Ministry, the remains of about 1.12 million people out of the approximately 2.4 million war dead who died outside Japan have not been recovered.