Gravestone dumping shocks Hyogo island residents

[Foxy Brown]

The illegal dumping of several thousand gravestones in a mountainous area of Awajishima island, Hyogo Prefecture, has prompted the prefectural government to promise a full investigation into the matter, it has been learned.

The stones are thought to have marked the graves of deceased with no living relatives and were removed to make way for new graves. The dumping raises questions about appropriate methods of gravestone disposal.