The Indian Ocean quake and tsunamis that hit Indonesia, Sri Lanka, India and Thailand are reported to have claimed about a quarter of a million lives. The dead included Japanese.

The Foreign Ministry said that as of Jan. 19, a total of 25 Japanese had been confirmed dead and 35 remained missing. But the ministry continued to refuse to release names (with some exceptions) giving out only the age and gender of those confirmed dead. As for the missing, ministry has merely been reducing the total in any case where those unaccounted for are located or found to be safe.

The media has complained about the secrecy surrounding the ministry's approach. The ministry has responded that it is under no obligation to report deaths of Japanese abroad or to publicize anyone's identity.

When a Japanese dies abroad in a criminal case, accident or natural disaster, it has been customary for local police or hospital officials to release the name, age, gender and other information about the individual based on data contained in their passport. The Foreign Ministry usually informs the family that the identity of the victim has been released by local authorities and normally gets their consent to announce of the victim's identity to the Japanese media.

But in the case of the tsunami, local authorities generally ceased to function properly and made few local announcements about Japanese victims.

Foreign Ministry officials say they had planned to release the names of victims and the missing, but could not obtain the consent of their families and had no choice but to announce only the number of missing and confirmed dead.

Under media attack, the ministry later began releasing the ages and genders of the victims. Ministry officials say they believe that such limited information release is socially acceptable and is “within the scope of the ministry’s responsibility.”

But the media is still dissatisfied, arguing that the media should be given full information and then be allowed to exercise its discretion as to whether to publish any names, paying due consideration to necessary privacy protection.

One media official said the media has had trouble getting around the ministry's excuse that it is honoring the will of the families. The official said, “We, the media, do not want to publish information that might harm the families. The problem is that we have no means of confirming any information. We also fear that the families might be being used by the ministry as a way to conceal information."

The official criticized the ministry, noting that:

? Anonymity and generic information make it hard to verify anything. More information could lead to a discovery of new facts and help us confirm other data;

? The families’ wishes should be respected, but we cannot report such vast devastation by only announcing numbers. We can best convey the value of human life by precisely reporting on individuals;

? To explain the damage, we must compile facts on individual cases. Inability to verify individual cases conceals the full picture;

? The ministry’s stance might simply be due to its inability to gather more information; and

? It is rare not to name the victims in such a large-scale disaster.

The media is fully aware that with the tsunami hitting foreign soil, and the incredibly high death toll itself make this an extremely unusual case. But the Foreign Ministry has recently tended to generally withhold the identities of Japanese victims of crimes, accidents and disasters abroad. The ministry's approach was conspicuous after the 9/11 attacks on the United States. “Even police and fire departments are now tending to conceal victims' identities and the Foreign Ministry is spearheading this undesirable trend,” the official warned.