The Health, Labor and Welfare Ministry commissioned Japanese nonprofit organization Kuentai, based in Tokyo, in fiscal 2009 to search for the remains in the Philippines, where more than 500,000 Japanese soldiers died.
The ministry suspended the collection project in the Philippines last October after reports that the bones of Filipinos had been stolen and sold as those of Japanese.
The ministry has ordered a probe by DNA and bone experts and conducted investigations jointly with the Philippine government. Kyodo News obtained the draft report of the investigation on Sunday.
The ministry could come under fire for what appears to be careless implementation of the search and collection project. A Japanese government source said it is unusual that bones other than those of Japanese soldiers are allegedly being found mixed with remains collected overseas by the search project.
Even those bones already placed at the Chidorigafuchi National Cemetery, dedicated for the war dead, in Tokyo may also come under scrutiny because some of them were collected by the NPO in question.
Philippine President Benigno Aquino, who was in Japan for a visit on Sunday, has indicated that if any remains of Philippine nationals are found to have been brought over to Japan, he would seek their return.
Aquino was scheduled to meet with Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda on Tuesday, when he was expected to raise the fragile security situation in the Korean Peninsula and the maritime dispute over a chain of islands in the South China Sea.
In the draft report, the ministry said the investigation concluded, “The problem lay with the collection method that was solely based on unverified witness accounts of residents.”
The ministry is planning to resume the search project employing experts with scientific knowledge and exchange a memorandum of understanding with the Philippine government shortly.
According to the report and the sources, some remains appear to belong to women and toddlers. Many are not suitable for DNA profiling. They said no evidence showed they were stolen.
The ministry says a total of 7,740 sets of remains were found in fiscal 2009, the year Kuentai started its operation, and 6,289 the following year, up sharply from 45 sets back in fiscal 2006.
