Why are overseas indigenous remains kept at Japanese universities?

The Mainichi

13-07-2025

The Mainichi Shimbun answers some common questions readers may have about the remains of overseas indigenous people kept by Japanese institutions like universities.
Question: Institutions in Japan have recently returned the remains of overseas indigenous peoples, right?
Answer: Yes, in June, the University of Tokyo, Kyoto University and Tokyo's National Museum of Nature and Science returned a total of 10 sets of remains of Australian indigenous peoples, which they had held for about a century, to the indigenous group. The University of Tokyo also returned 10 sets of remains to a native Hawaiian group in November last year.
Q: Why were overseas indigenous remains held at Japanese universities?
A: Since the Meiji era (1868-1912), remains were sent to Japan through Japanese doctors, military personnel and migrants who went overseas. These remains were stored at universities and other institutions mainly under the pretext of anthropological research. In a letter to Yoshikiyo Koganei, an anthropologist and professor at Tokyo Imperial University Medical School (now the University of Tokyo's Faculty of Medicine), an individual who sent remains wrote, "It's not easy to work under the cover of night," suggesting that many bones were taken without the consent of indigenous peoples.
Q: Why do they study bones in the first place?
A: Anthropology, which began in Europe in the latter half of the 19th century, aimed to explore differences among races and ethnicities within humankind. For instance, researchers attempted to determine intellectual superiority by examining differences in the size and shape of skulls.
Q: Why have they decided to return the remains now?
A: Returning remains is a global trend as part of efforts to restore the rights of indigenous peoples, who have been persecuted since the colonial era. In Australia, rules were established in the 1980s to return remains held by domestic museums to indigenous peoples. The recent return was prompted by an international conference in Kyoto in 2016, which revealed that Australian indigenous remains were stored at the University of Tokyo, leading the Australian government to file a request with its Japanese counterpart for their return. Japanese universities also hold remains collected from other countries, as well as those of Japan's indigenous Ainu and Ryukyu peoples. There is potential for the movement to return remains to expand further.