Prayers Offered for Victims of Sagamihara Care Home Attack

Sagamihara, Kanagawa Pref., July 26 (Jiji Press)–Many people visited the Tsukui Yamayuri-en residential facility for people with disabilities in the city of Sagamihara, Kanagawa Prefecture, south of Tokyo, on Sunday, the 10th anniversary of a mass stabbing attack that left 45 residents and staff members dead or injured. Visitors quietly offered prayers that such a tragedy would never happen again and paid tribute to the 19 victims who lost their lives in the attack. Despite intense heat and occasional torrential downpours accompanied by thunder, many flowers were placed at an offering stand set up in front of a memorial monument. Chikiko Ono, 84, whose eldest son was seriously injured in the attack, visited the facility with her husband, Takashi, 82. Reflecting on the tragedy, she said, “There is not a day that goes by without us talking about Yamayuri-en. It feels as though our lives have been intertwined with the facility.” A 47-year-old man from Atsugi, Kanagawa, whose wife has worked at the facility since before the attack, stressed that he does not want the incident to fade from public memory. “Ten years have passed in the blink of an eye,” he said. Looking at his 7-year-old and 4-year-old sons, who accompanied him, the man added, “I hope they grow up free from prejudice and discrimination.” Kanagawa Governor Yuji Kuroiwa also visited the site to lay flowers. “I have renewed my determination to create a society in which such an incident will never happen again,” he said. The building where the attack took place was demolished after the incident and replaced with a new facility in 2021. A memorial monument erected the same year bears the names of victims whose families wished them to be inscribed. Earlier this month, one name was newly added, bringing the total to 11. The attack occurred in the early hours of July 26, 2016. Satoshi Uematsu, a former employee of the facility, now 36, killed 19 residents and wounded 26 others, including staff members. He sought to justify his actions with self-serving claims that people with severe disabilities were “people who have no awareness of being alive.” His death sentence became final in March 2020, and his second request for a retrial was rejected in February this year. END [Copyright The Jiji Press, Ltd.]