Urns of the forgotten dead pile up in Japan

Still uncollected: A city official of Yokosuka holding a lantern as he visits a facility which keeps the unclaimed burial urns in Yokosuka. — Reuters

YOKOSUKA: Unclaimed urns containing ashes of the dead are piling up by the thousands across Japan, creating storage headaches and reflecting fraying family ties and economic pressures in an rapidly ageing nation.

The identities of the dead, cremated at public expense, are usually known. But in most cases, relatives either refuse or don’t respond to requests to collect their remains.