The bones of women and children who died long after World War II are suspected to have been mixed in with the collected remains of purportedly Japanese soldiers who died during the war in the Philippines, a draft investigation report on the remains-collection project and sources close to the Japanese and the Philippine governments says.
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.