The University of California Berkeley yesterday said there is no evidence indicating that the human bones removed from Saipan in 1945 by a U.S. Navy doctor and donated to the university's museum in 1974 were of Japanese origin and whether they perished in the Battle of Saipan during World War II.
Daniel Mogulof, executive director of public affairs at the University of California Berkeley, said all that the university's physical anthropologist can tell is that the bones are of East Asian descent due to a very scanty record that was left with the museum when the remains were donated 35 years ago.
The bones are stored at UC Berkeley's Phoebe A. Hearst Museum of Anthropology.
In a telephone interview yesterday, Mogulof said the university is “engaged in discussions with Japanese authorities” on the matter, but reiterated that no evidence suggests that the bones are those of Japanese soldiers or civilians and whether they died before or during the war.
“We know the bones were from Saipan but we don't know who these people were or how they died. We only know that they are of East Asian descent,” Mogulof told Saipan Tribune.
He said the UC Berkeley's physical anthropologist's visual inspection also revealed that “it appears at least half of the remains were used before the war in a medical school setting since they are marked in a manner consistent with anatomical studies.”
“Absent any evidence that these remains belonged to former combatants, POW's [prisoners of war] or internees, it is far from certain whether the Geneva Convention applies here,” Mogulof said in an email.
Anthropologists, international law experts and California lawmakers have expressed outrage over the storage of the skeletal remains at the museum, saying the case presents legal and ethical issues that include apparent violation of the Geneva Conventions for the protection of war victims.
The Geneva Conventions consist of four treaties and three additional protocols that set the standards in international law for humanitarian treatment of victims of war.
'Policy'
Mogulof said more than a year ago, both Japan's Yasukuni Shrine and its governmental War Victims Relief Bureau were made aware that UC Berkeley's museum holds the human remains.
“We received a letter from the shrine stating their lack of interest in the remains and never heard a word from Japanese government officials,” he said.
The university is set to provide Saipan Tribune today with a copy of the letter they received from the Yasukuni Shrine, along with other documents in their archives relating to the remains.
“But we have sent new letters to a variety of Japanese government agencies re-stating the lack of evidence regarding the remains' origins, and reiterating long standing policy: we are now, and always have been, ready to honor any legitimate request for repatriation,” Mogulof added.
'Safely stored'
The UC Berkeley official said the remains have never been used for any sort of research. This is contrary to earlier reports that the bones were used for osteology, the study of bones.
“For the past 35 years, they have been safely stored in a temperature controlled facility that is not accessible to the public,” Mogulof said.
He said the museum has also never used the bones for exhibits and experiments.
The San Francisco Chronicle first reported on the human bones on Aug. 16. The report said the bones were that of Japanese soldiers and civilians who committed suicide, and some who may have jumped off cliffs rather than surrender in the American invasion of Saipan.
In yesterday's phone interview, Mogulof said the controversy started last year when they found out that the museum director's signature was forged and a letter carrying that signature was sent to different Japanese authorities. The letter sent, he said, stated that the bones were that of Japanese war dead. Mogulof reiterated that there is no evidence suggesting they're of Japanese.
The Japan Consul on Saipan, Tsutomu Higuchi, did not return Saipan Tribune's call for comment yesterday.
The Battle of Saipan in June and July 1944 was one of the fiercest during the war. According to Japan figures, some 43,000 Japanese soldiers and 12,000 civilians, including children, died on Saipan at that time.
Thousands of Japanese jumped to their death on Saipan rather than surrender to American forces.
The U.S. and local death toll totaled nearly 3,500 soldiers and over 900 islanders, including infants and elderly.
To this day, Japanese groups regularly come to Saipan to pay respect to their war dead and pray for world peace.
Both the U.S. and Japanese governments have also been making expeditions to World War II battlefields, including Saipan and other Pacific islands, to recover remains of their war dead.
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