JAL Crash Victims Remembered on 33rd Anniversary

August 13, 2018

Ueno, Gunma Pref.- Victims of the 1985 crash of a Japan Airlines jumbo jet were remembered on the mountainous disaster site on the 33rd anniversary on Sunday.

Bereaved family members and others climbed to the Osutaka Ridge in the village of Ueno, Gunma Prefecture, north of Tokyo, to reach memorial markers established at places where remains of the victims were found.

They mourned the victims and prayed that no more air crash would occur again. According to JAL, a total of 272 bereaved people of 82 families climbed to the crash site.

The crash occurred Aug. 12, 1985, killing 520 of the 524 people on board. It is the world's deadliest single-aircraft accident.

Among those who climbed on Sunday included Shinsuke Tanaka, a 52-year-old resident of Kobe, who lost a close friend from his high school days.

The friend, then 20, perished on the way back home after a job-hunting trip to Tokyo. Days before the crash, they promised to meet again.

"I've kept you waiting so long," said Tanaka, who climbed for the first time after remaining unable to do so mainly because of illness.

"I've fulfilled my promise at last," he said, looking satisfied with their reunion.

Mika Okuda, 48, mourned the death of Yumiko Yoshida, then 24, who was a member of the famed Takarazuka Revue theater troupe.

"She was like a goddess," said Okuda, who admired Yoshida so much that she herself joined the troupe. "I must continue passing stories about this accident."

The climbers also included bereaved families of victims of the March 2011 earthquake and tsunami.

Among them were Takayuki Tamura, 57, and his wife, Hiromi, 55, who lost their 25-year-old son, Kenta, at the tsunami-hit Onagawa branch of 77 Bank <8341> in Miyagi Prefecture, northeastern Japan.

Those who lost their loved ones in the air crash "are in a different situation from us," Takayuki said. "But we share the same wish to eradicate accidents that happen in situations under corporate control."

"My goal is to make Onagawa a place of mourning like here," he added.

In the evening, a memorial ceremony was held at a facility in the village, attended by 229 people. With 520 candles lit, participants gave a silent prayer at 6:56 p.m. (9:56 a.m. GMT), the exact time of the crash.

JAL President Yuji Akasaka climbed to the crash site and offered flower at a monument.

On this day 33 years ago, JAL Flight 123, a Boeing 747 bound for Osaka Prefecture, lost control and crashed after taking off from Tokyo International Airport at Haneda. Jiji Press