JAL Jet Crash Victims Remembered on 41st Anniversary

Ueno, Gunma Pref., Aug. 12 (Jiji Press)–Victims of the 1985 crash of a Japan Airlines jumbo jet were remembered at the mountainous accident site in eastern Japan on Wednesday, the 41st anniversary of the tragedy. From early in the morning, bereaved family members and others went on a memorial hike, climbing to the 1,565-meter-high Osutaka Ridge, the crash site in the village of Ueno, Gunma Prefecture, north of Tokyo. They prayed for the deceased in front of memorial markers scattered along the trail where the aircraft crashed after leaving Tokyo’s Haneda Airport for Osaka International Airport, killing 520 people on board. Toru Izutani, a 67-year-old self-employed man from the western city of Osaka, walked up the trail step by step in heavy rain to remember his sister, Junko, who was 20 at the time of the accident. Placing a picture of his father, who died last year, at her marker, Izutani said with a smile, “I wonder if (my sister and father) were able to meet in the afterlife.” “My sister remains 20 years old (in my mind). I try not to think about her in my daily life, but coming here makes me think of her,” he said. Kuniko Miyajima, 79, who lost her second son, Ken, at age 9, stated, “Climbing is getting harder every year, but I want to continue as much as I can.” She emphasized, “I want to create safety together with JAL.” Risako Uchino, 66, from Kawasaki, Kanagawa Prefecture, who lost her father, Shinjiro Minami, then 54, climbs every year, deepening exchanges with other bereaved families. “I share the same feeling that I don’t want the deaths of those who perished to be in vain. These are encounters my father gave me,” she said. However, she added, “It is getting harder every year,” as her physical strength declines. Chiho Wakamoto, 61, from Yamato, also Kanagawa, who lost her father, Shoji, then 50, said, “It was a place where I didn’t want to come but had to come.” But now, it has become a “place of peace” for her, Wakamoto said. Those bereaved and others gathered in front of a monument to the victims at the crash site and rang a bell to pray for aviation safety. According to JAL, 162 people from 49 families climbed to pray for the victims. From 6 p.m., a memorial ceremony was held at a memorial garden at the foot of the mountain, attended by bereaved relatives and JAL officials, including President Mitsuko Tottori. Participants observed a moment of silence at 6:56 p.m., the time of the accident, with candles lit for the victims during the ceremony. On Tuesday, about 240 lanterns were lit and floated on the Kanna River, which flows at the foot of the ridge, by bereaved relatives and others to remember the victims and pray for the safety of air travel. During this year’s event, elementary school children from Fujioka, Gunma, drew pictures of airplanes and mountains on some lanterns and added messages for the victims. At the time of the accident, school and other gymnasiums were used to house victims’ bodies. END [Copyright The Jiji Press, Ltd.]