The remains were cremated at the old airport in Banadero, Marpi and the ashes were collected so they could be brought back to Japan today for a proper burial.
Yukio Tanabe, envoy of the Japanese government for the recovery of the remains on Saipan, said 547 sets of human remains were excavated in Tanapag from Sept. 1 to 9.
Twenty-eight sets of human remains excavated earlier and kept by the CNMI Historic Preservation Office were included in the mass cremation.
“I am very thankful to the members of this mission and deeply grateful for all the cooperation from the government of the Northern Mariana Islands and the local people for the recovery of the remains of our soldiers on Saipan,” Tanabe said.
The recovery was initiated by Kuentai, a non-profit organization with headquarters in Tokyo, whose goal is to return the remains of the dead soldiers to their homeland.
Yesterday’s mass cremation was the team’s first. Kurata said they are still looking for the remains of 26,000 Japanese soldiers on Saipan.
“We don’t have plans yet when to start the next excavation but we will be doing another set of intense research work first,” Kurata said.
He said since February when the recovery mission started, he has been coming back here to oversee the excavation activities.
“We did our research first, coordinated with the CNMI government and talked to the local people that finally led to the recovery of these remains,” Kurata said.
Kuentai reports show that a total of 2.4 million Japanese soldiers were killed abroad during the war.
The number of the Japanese war dead in the Philippines alone totaled 518,000, including soldiers and civilian employees.
Kurata said there is still so much to do. In the Philippines, he said they are hoping to excavate over 370,000 remains of Japanese soldiers. Kyuntai has several offices all over the Philippines.
Kuentai secretary Yoko Kuramot said there were 11 of them from the organization who came to Saipan on Aug. 31.
The mass cremation yesterday started at 10 a.m.
Among those who offered flowers for the dead soldiers were Tomoko Abe of the House of Representatives of Japan, Kuentai adviser Tsutomu Takamora, Consul Tsutomo Higuchi, acting director of the CNMI Division of Historic Preservation Office Mertie Kani, deputy director of the Division of Environmental Quality David Rosario, acting director of the CNMI Division of Fish and Wildlife Paul Radley, Marianas Visitors Authority Managing Director Perry Tenorio, Capt. Pete Guerrero of the Department of Public Safety and American Memorial Park Chief Ranger Bryan Piercy.
