Japan's battlefield pilgrimages offer solace, but challenges remain

In February, roughly 80 people from Japan embarked on a pilgrimage to the Philippines to pay respects at the site where their relatives lost their lives during World War II. Takahiro Kawaguchi, a Tokyo lawyer, was among them. His grandfather, Takeo Kawaguchi, was killed in March 1945 near Ipo Dam on Luzon Island when Japanese forces clashed with U.S. troops.

Settling near the dam, Kawaguchi and his group offered prayers and sang a well-known Japanese song, Furusato (Hometown). Kawaguchi expressed his desire to finally visit the location where his grandfather died and be the first among surviving family members to do so. The pilgrimage program, managed by Japan's Ministry of Health, Labor, and Welfare, has been in operation for five decades, with about 14,000 participants visiting 20 regions, including the Philippines, northeastern China, Russia, and Mongolia.

Despite extensive efforts to recover the remains of Japanese war dead overseas, only around 1.28 million, or 53 percent of the estimated 2.4 million who died during the war, have had their remains recovered. In the Philippines, nearly 370,000 remains remain unrecovered, along with about 200,000 in northeastern China. The program has recently evolved to welcome grandchildren, spouses, and children of the deceased, but many of the bereaved are growing older, raising concerns about their ability to travel.

Hiroshi Ito, an 81-year-old Tokyo resident, joined the pilgrimage to Masinloc to find closure for his father's death, but was unable to reach the island where his father was said to have died. Ito called for increased government support to help cover travel costs and for more efforts to locate and recover remains. The government currently bears one-third of the expenses, a significant barrier for many bereaved families.

The number of elderly family members capable of traveling is also dwindling, as local associations supporting bereaved families disband as their members age. Kazufumi Hamai, a professor specializing in Japan's war dead, stressed the importance of both recovering the remains and conducting memorial pilgrimages to address the pain of families who have long struggled with uncertainty about their loved ones' deaths and whereabouts.

He emphasized that these two actions must be pursued simultaneously, with the government fulfilling its responsibility and providing appropriate assistance.