Photo/Illutration A document obtained from the city government of Yao, Osaka Prefecture, through a freedom-of-information request shows the term “administrative deletion.” (The Asahi Shimbun)

At least 197 children can’t be traced after municipalities over the past decade deleted resident records because they were not living at their registered address, according to an Asahi Shimbun investigation.

If no new record has been created in any municipality, the children cannot access public services, and police and administrative authorities have no way of ascertaining life-threatening situations such as abuse.

The newspaper conducted the survey after the body of Reina Iwamoto, estimated to have been 6 at the time of her death, was found encased in concrete in Yao, Osaka Prefecture, in February.

City officials deleted Reina’s resident record in 2004 at the request of her grandfather after conducting an on-site survey of the registered address.

However, no change-of-address notice was filed, and no new resident record was created anywhere. Reina is believed to have died around 2006–2007 after suffering abuse from her uncle.

Her body remained undiscovered for more than 18 years.

Under the Basic Resident Registration Law, municipalities are authorized to delete resident records when they cannot confirm actual residence to maintain accurate registrations that form the basis of public services. The procedure is known as “administrative deletion.”

When a child’s resident record is removed, authorities no longer send notices for pediatric health checkups or elementary school enrollment.

The Asahi Shimbun asked 74 major municipalities to report the number of children under 18 whose whereabouts were unknown after their resident records were deleted.

The survey covered ordinance-designated cities, prefectural capitals and Tokyo’s 23 wards.

The period examined was from 2015, when the central government issued guidelines to municipalities on handling administrative deletions for children.

Seventy municipalities responded. Sixteen said either that there are children whose whereabouts are unknown or that they do not track that information.

The number of children who could not be traced or whose cases could no longer be verified retroactively totaled 197.

The breakdown includes 48 children in Hamamatsu, 29 in Tokyo’s Ota Ward, 18 in Adachi Ward, 17 each in Saitama and Shizuoka, and 14 in Sagamihara.

The city of Hamamatsu said resident records of children whose whereabouts could not be determined after investigation were deleted while they remained unaccounted for.

A Sagamihara city official said, “It is possible these children have no resident record anywhere in Japan because their records have not been restored after they were deleted based on an investigation.”

“Even when limited to selected municipalities, this many children could be at a disadvantage,” said Satoru Nishizawa, a specially appointed professor of clinical welfare at the Graduate School of Yamanashi Prefectural University, and an expert on child abuse. “It can be inferred that the number is considerable nationwide.”

The government has conducted annual surveys of children not enrolled in school since 2014. In the last fiscal year, more than 20,000 children were checked and authorities reported confirming the status of all.

According to the internal affairs ministry, there are no national statistics on the number of children whose resident records were deleted by administrative authorities.

“Children who have ‘vanished’ may be falling through the cracks of all national surveys and statistics, and some could be facing life-threatening risks,” said Hidehiro Suzuki, a professor of administrative law at Nihon University. “The government should broaden the scope of its surveys and statistics and bring the actual situation to light.”

The government guidelines issued in 2015 call on municipalities to verify a child’s actual living situation and confirm that they are registered in the municipality where they reside before deleting their resident record.

The guidelines also state that even after deletion, authorities must share information across relevant departments and continue efforts to confirm the child’s whereabouts.

(This article was written by Tomoki Miyasaka and Mami Okada.)

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