Anadolu staff
21 July 2026•Update: 21 July 2026
Japan on Monday began its first excavation in Taiwan to search for the remains of Japanese soldiers who died during World War II, according to Kyodo News.
The long-delayed recovery mission in 50 years was made possible despite the absence of formal diplomatic ties between Tokyo and Taipei.
The preliminary excavation started in Hengchun Township in southern Pingtung County and will continue through July 31 at two coastal sites facing the Bashi Channel, a strategic wartime shipping route between Taiwan and the Philippines.
The operation is being carried out by the Japan Association for Recovery and Repatriation of War Casualties, which was commissioned by Japan’s Health, Labor and Welfare Ministry, together with local volunteers.
According to Japan’s Welfare Ministry, about 41,900 Japanese died in Taiwan during the war, with the remains of roughly 15,600 still unrecovered.
Local historians believe many Japanese soldiers killed during an Allied attack on a military convoy in 1944 were buried near Hengchun.
NHK reported that more than 100,000 people are estimated to have died after Imperial Japanese military vessels were sunk by US submarines in nearby waters, with many bodies washing ashore along the Pingtung coast.
Mission leader Tatsuaki Inoue said any remains recovered would undergo DNA analysis and other examinations to determine whether they belonged to Japanese soldiers or people of other ethnic backgrounds.
Inoue described the excavation as “very significant,” noting the challenges of conducting recovery operations since Japan switched diplomatic recognition from Taipei to Beijing in 1972.
Government-backed excavations in Taiwan have not been conducted for decades.
The last major recovery effort in the mid-1970s resulted in the retrieval of 242 sets of remains, according to Kyodo. Inoue also thanked Taiwanese residents for their cooperation and support for the families of the war dead.
