Editorial

15:19 JST, November 13, 2025

Three years after an accident on the cold sea took the lives of many people, a trial has begun to seek to hold the defendant criminally liable. The defendant must sincerely answer the questions of the bereaved families — why were these precious lives taken?

The first hearing of the trial for defendant Seiichi Katsurada, president of the operating company for a sightseeing boat, was held at the Kushiro District Court in Hokkaido. He has been charged with professional negligence resulting in death. The charge is from the April 2022 sinking of a sightseeing boat, which had 26 passengers and crew on board, off the Shiretoko Peninsula in Hokkaido. The ruling will be handed down in June next year after 11 hearings.

The defendant is charged with failing in his duty at that time to order the boat captain to cancel the operation........

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