Kin pray for 1985 JAL crash victims on eve of 25th anniversary+

UENO, Japan, Aug. 11 Kyodo -
Relatives of the 1985 Japan Airlines jumbo jet crash victims commemorated their
loved ones Wednesday evening, the eve of the 25th anniversary of the tragedy,
by floating paper lanterns on a river in the village of Ueno, Gunma Prefecture.
Prior to 6:56 p.m., the time when the JAL plane heading to Osaka from Tokyo
crashed in the Osutaka Ridge and killed all but four of the 524 passengers and
crew members aboard, some 100 relatives placed around 300 lanterns, which
carried messages to the deceased, such as ''We pray for aviation safety
worldwide,'' ''Please watch over us from the sky,'' and, ''We will not
forget,'' on the Kanna River.
Among the mourners was Takashi Takeda, 75, from Kariya, Aichi Prefecture, who
lost his sister Sumiko, then 41, in the crash.
''I have always thought about my dead sister and the accident, and I don't feel
comfort even now,'' he said, after floating his lantern. ''We would've led our
lives as a happy family if the crash never happened.''
Ryo Wakamoto, 18, lost his 50-year-old grandfather, Shoji, whom he has never
seen. At his second time at the ceremony, the high school senior wrote on his
lantern, ''We were able to come here, us four. Please watch over us from the
sky. I wanted to meet you.''
Wakamoto, who visited Ueno from Kanagawa Prefecture with his grandmother,
mother and aunt, said, ''There are more and more people from my generation who
do not know anything about the accident, and I believe it is my responsibility
to relay the message not to forget the accident.''
The 520 victims included popular singer Kyu Sakamoto, 43, and Hajimu Nakano,
63, president of the professional baseball team Hanshin Tigers, while all of
the four survivors are women, then aged between 8 and 34.
The lantern ceremony was also attended by those who lost their family members
in other accidents.
Keiko Kayama, who lost her mother, 75, in a fatal train accident in Tokyo in
2005, said she began taking part in the ceremony after an encounter with Kuniko
Miyajima, who lost her 9-year-old son Ken in the JAL crash and now heads a
liaison group for bereaved relatives of the air accident.
Kayama, 55, from Yokohama, dedicated her lantern with a message for both her
mother and Ken. ''We share our wish to ensure safety not just in the air but
also in other transport-linked accidents,'' she said.
On Thursday, some of the relatives will climb to the crash site from Ueno, the
foot of the Osutaka Ridge, as their way of praying for the souls of the dead
and advocating aviation safety. Transport minister Seiji Maehara will also
visit as the first state minister to do so.
This year's anniversary comes after JAL filed for bankruptcy protection in
January to undergo state-backed rehabilitation.
While no one was indicted in the world's worst single-aircraft accident, a
Japanese government investigation commission blamed it on improper repairs
conducted by Boeing Co. on the plane's rear pressure bulkhead, which JAL could
not detect in subsequent maintenance.
Some relatives have been calling for a reinvestigation into the accident,
questioning the previous conclusion.
==Kyodo
2010-08-11 21:54:21