Tokyo (AsiaNews / Agencies) - Billions of yen, blocked in millions of postal saving s accounts, have yet to be claimed by their owners. For the most part they are nationals of the former colony of Imperial Japan, living in Asia and the Pacific, most likely they do not know they still hold regular accounts in Japan.
According to the Postal Company and the Japanese bank, the financial institution that has custody of funds after the many renovations that followed the end of World War II, approximately 4.3 billion yen (approximately EUR 40 million) are included in the 19 million saving accounts that date to the colonial era. Many are owned by Chinese, Korean or Pacific Islands nationals.
The funds were not affected by the conflict, and continued to earn interest. But over time, no one has claimed them, raising the suspicion that the owners have died or have forgotten all about them.
At the beginning of the twentieth century, in a booming colonial Japan, these accounts were used by the entire domestic population. With the expansion of Japanese control over its neighbours, the Japanese government began to push the "new citizens" to open others. Starting from Korea, annexed by the Japanese in 1910, the postal accounts came to about 19 million.
Akira Ogaki, spokesman for the management of postal accounts, explains: " The accounts are still valid and if someone comes to us with the appropriate documents then the funds will be made available to them. It might take a little bit of time as we will have to very thoroughly verify each application, but we intend to do so. "