UC's Return of Japanese Bones Put on Hold (Japan Worried Bones Not Theirs)

San Francisco Chronicle ^ | 8/30/09 | Jim Doyle

[nickcarraway]

The Phoebe A. Hearst Museum's collection of human remains from Saipan appears to have touched Japan's cultural, political and religious sensitivities concerning World War II, causing Japanese officials to balk at accepting UC Berkeley's offer to return the skulls and bones.

"The remains are not verified as ones of Japanese, so the Japanese government is asking for additional information," Tadayuki Mizutani, a first secretary at Japan's Embassy in Washington, said Friday.

But the museum's documentation on the remains is sketchy.

Although its card catalogs list some of the Saipan remains as "Japanese who committed suicide during the American invasion," UC anthropologists can only verify that the remains are of East Asian origin.

Japan isn't keen to repatriate the skulls and bones of non-Japanese.

Because of Japan's long history of Buddhism, a person's lineage is considered significant and human remains are treated with reverence. The dead are often cremated, and their ashes buried in a family grave.

Professor Duncan Williams, director of UC Berkeley's Center for Japanese Studies, said that Japan has good reason to tread carefully.

"This is a hot political issue in Japan for family members for whom deceased soldiers cannot be identified," he said. "This is not just any remains, but remains of those who passed away in World War II. The Japanese government and people are trying to ... come to closure with Japan's role in that war."

chance of return

Williams said he expects that Japan ultimately will accept the museum's offer to return the Saipan remains.

[DTogo]

Because of Japan's long history of Buddhism, a person's lineage is considered significant and human remains are treated with reverence.

Malarky! Like any other family, Japanese simply don't want to spend the time and money burying bones in the family grave unless they're sure it's family. Not to mention the fate-worse-than-death-in-Japan "loss of face" if the bones were mistakenly ID'd.

日本＊ピング＊ (kono risuto ni hairitai ka detai wo shirasete kudasai : let me know if you want on or off this list)

[HiTech RedNeck]

They wouldn’t be too happy about treating Chinese, say, bones as their own.

But I guess they could set aside some neutral site for combing through the bones and doing DNA checks. Whatever they can’t match to a family, gets buried at sea or sumfin.

[AmericanInTokyo]

Make no bones about it, this story is ready for take off!

[muawiyah]

The “grave” referred to is at a temple AND you will be charged a serious fee ~ meaning it’s not just “time and money”, it’s a “lotta’ time and money” during the Obama Depression.