Register listing 7,756 Great Tokyo Air Raid victims found at Sumida Ward office

In a remarkable discovery at the Sumida Ward government office in Tokyo, a register documenting the names of victims from the Great Tokyo Air Raid of March 1945 has been unearthed. This register, compiled by the Tokyo Metropolitan Government around 1951, lists the names of 7,756 individuals. Only the second known surviving copy of such a register, this particular one is the first to be found at a ward office.

The Great Tokyo Air Raid, executed by the U.S. Army Air Force approximately five months prior to Japan's surrender in World War II, is believed to have claimed the lives of around 100,000 people. Following the bombing, bodies were initially buried in various locations, including parks, until victims could be identified. Their remains were exhumed, cremated, and their ashes transferred to the Tokyo Metropolitan Memorial Hall in Sumida Ward between 1948 and 1951.

Simultaneously, the metropolitan government created a register of the identified victims, with 100 copies produced and distributed to relevant parties in Tokyo.

Among these copies, the one discovered at the Sumida Ward Office in April of this year is particularly significant. It is believed to be a copy of the register compiled by the Tokyo Metropolitan Government and was found among materials being sorted by a department preparing for renovation work. A similar copy was previously discovered in 2001, belonging to a former metropolitan government employee who was involved in its creation.

This individual later donated the copy to the Center of the Tokyo Raids and War Damage in Koto Ward.

Curator Seishi Ishibashi of the Sumida Heritage Museum, who researches air raids, emphasized the importance of such documents. "Documents containing the names of victims are extremely valuable in conveying the gravity of the air raid and passing down its memory to future generations," he stated.