Hokkaido Fisher to Hold Memorial Service for Tour Boat Accident Victims

   Sapporo, April 23 (Jiji Press)--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 northernmost Japan 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.
   Getting almost all jobs done to hold the event in July around where the boat went under, Sakurai says, "All we have left to do now is to pray for good weather on the day."
   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.

(2025/04/23-20:43)

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