Hokkaido fisher to hold memorial service for tour boat accident victims

A local fishing operator in Hokkaido is preparing to hold a shipboard ceremony to remember people involved in the fatal tourist boat sinking off the coast of the Shiretoko Peninsula in the prefecture three years ago.
Kenji Sakurai, a 61-year-old fisher in the town of Rausu, volunteered his time to search for passengers and crew members who went missing when the Kazu I sightseeing boat sank on April 23, 2022. The incident left 20 people on board dead and six others still unaccounted for.
"All we have left to do now is to pray for good weather on the day," Sakurai says, having completed almost all preparations to hold the event in July around where the boat went under.
Sakurai instantly decided to organize the offshore memorial service when he saw photos recovered from a 34-year-old Kazu I passenger's digital camera he stumbled across when visiting the peninsula with some of his friends during the Bon holiday period in August last year.
About 700 photos were recovered from the camera owned by the man from Matsudo, Chiba Prefecture. Of them, around 80 were taken on the day of the accident, with some featuring other Kazu I passengers.
On his way home, many things went through Sakurai's mind, including the tearful faces of bereaved family members who boarded tour boats with other passengers to visit the site and statues of the Goddess of Kannon dotted around the peninsula due to many marine accidents in the area.
The discovery of the camera more than two years after the sinking was "a message sent from those who died," Sakurai said.
A digital camera belonging to one of the passengers on the sunken Kazu I boat was found off the tip of Shiretoko Peninsula in August 2024. |
Courtesy of Kenji Sakurai / via Jiji
The biggest obstacle in organizing the event was money.
Along with friends who joined efforts to find items belonging to the victims, Sakurai asked for donations in a video uploaded to YouTube in October last year.
Money sent from across Japan totaled some ¥13 million, exceeding the initial goal of ¥10 million.
When Sakurai visited a local government office to complete the necessary paperwork, including filing for permits for port use, an official there offered full-fledged cooperation.
The ceremony will be held on either July 12 or July 13, depending on the weather and sea conditions, with 43 members from bereaved families scheduled to attend.
Participants will board two leased tour boats and offer floral tributes around what is believed to be the sinking point near Kashuni Falls. They will also land on the northern part of the peninsula, where many items belonging to the victims were found.
"I want (the participants) to pray (for the victims) so they don't have any regrets," Sakurai said.
On Wednesday, on the third anniversary of the Kazu I sinking, a memorial service was held in the town of Shari in Hokkaido.
During the service, about 120 participants, including bereaved families, observed a moment of silence shortly after 1 p.m., when the incident is believed to have occurred.
Shari Mayor Hiroaki Yamauchi said that the local community will reassess what needs to be done to make the Shiretoko area attractive and "build safety step by step."
"Our biggest mission is to ensure (tourists') safety," said Katsunori Nojiri, head of the Shiretoko Shari-cho Tourist Association. "We'll work to ensure that people can enjoy nature and sightseeing without worrying."
An altar was set up at the ceremony venue, where many Shari residents laid flowers. Among them was Toichi Sugiura, 63, who worked for an affiliate of the Kazu I operator and offered support to bereaved families at the time.
"Three years have passed in the blink of an eye," Sugiura said. "I want to make sure that it (the incident) will not be forgotten with each passing year."
"Nature has its risks," said Gen Terayama, 58, a tour guide. "Business operators are tasked with addressing the risks in a sincere way."
At a news conference in Tokyo Wednesday, Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshimasa Hayashi said that the government will "continue to work hard to ensure the safety of passenger ships so that tragic accidents will not happen again."
Over the incident, Seiichi Katsurada, president of the boat operator Shiretoko Yuransen, was arrested by the 1st Regional Coast Guard Headquarters in September last year for alleged professional negligence resulting in death. He was indicted by the Kushiro District Public Prosecutor's Office the following month.
Katsurada is also facing a civil lawsuit filed by the bereaved families. During a court hearing, he has denied his responsibility for the incident.

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