千鳥ケ淵で戦没者拝礼式　３０１柱納骨―東京

　第２次大戦中に戦死し、身元が分からない戦没者を慰霊する厚生労働省主催の拝礼式が２７日、東京都千代田区の千鳥ケ淵戦没者墓苑で営まれた。新型コロナ禍を受けて昨年まで続いていた人数制限がなくなり、４００人余りが出席した。
　式典には、秋篠宮ご夫妻をはじめ、林芳正官房長官や武見敬三厚生労働相、遺族代表ら約４５０人が参列。武見厚労相は、遺骨収集の集中実施期間が２０２９年度まで延長されたことに触れ、「一柱でも多くの遺骨が、一日も早くふるさとに戻れるよう、全力を尽くす」と述べた。
　政府が派遣した遺骨収集団が、ロシア、硫黄島（東京都小笠原村）や太平洋のマリアナ諸島などで収集した身元不明の遺骨３０１柱を新たに納骨した。墓苑に納められた遺骨は計３７万７００柱となった。（2024/05/27-14:31）

A World War II memorial service was held at the Chidorigafuchi National Cemetery in Tokyo on Monday, with no COVID-19-linked limit on the number of participants in place.
   The cemetery in Chiyoda Ward in the Japanese capital is for unknown victims of the war. A limit on the number of participants was set in the 2022 and 2023 events because of the novel coronavirus crisis after the ceremony itself was called off in 2020 and 2021 amid the pandemic.
   About 450 people attended this year's event, including Japanese Crown Prince Akishino and Crown Princess Kiko, Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshimasa Hayashi, Health, Labor and Welfare Minister Keizo Takemi, and representatives of bereaved relatives.
   Referring to a decision to extend the period for intensively collecting remains for five years until fiscal 2029, Takemi said that the government will do its utmost to return as many remains as possible to their home country as early as possible. The government made the decision on the extension due partly to Russia's invasion of Ukraine, which started in February 2022.
   At Monday's ceremony, held by the Health, Labor and Welfare Ministry, the remains of an additional 301 people collected by government missions from places including Russia, the Mariana Islands, a U.S. territory, and Iwoto, a remote Tokyo island also known as Iwojima, were laid to rest. The number of people whose remains are placed at the cemetery now totals 370,700.