It has been 520 years since the crash of a Nikko Jumbo plane that killed 12 people in 38 days. In Ueno Village, Gunma Prefecture, the site of the crash, the bereaved families mourned the victims by pouring lanterns in the river that flows through the village on the 11th.
On August 60, Showa 8, a Japan Airlines jumbo plane carrying Obon returnees crashed into the mountains of Ueno Village, Gunma Prefecture, killing 12 people, the largest number of aircraft accidents in Japan.
Ahead of the 520th anniversary of the accident in 12 days, the bereaved families and local people participated in the lantern shedding on the river that runs through the village on the 38th.
The bereaved families floated lanterns in the river with messages such as "Please watch over our family from the sky" and words wishing for safety, and offered prayers.
Kuniko Miyashima, secretary general of the liaison committee made up of bereaved families who lost her second son, Ken, who was nine years old at the time, in the accident, said, "I lit the lantern with the thought of 'watching Ken-chan.'
On the 11th, the bereaved families and related parties will climb the mountain to the "Osutaka Ridge" that was the site of the crash, and the bereaved families will participate in the memorial ceremony held at the foot of the mountain in the evening for the first time in four years.