The group that operated the boats in a fatal capsize off Nago, Okinawa Prefecture, has said it will stop taking students and members of the public out on the water for guided tours. The decision follows a March accident in which two boats carrying students from Doshisha International High School overturned off the coast of Henoko.
Takashi Takeishi, a second-year high school student who was 17, and the boat's captain, Hajime Kanai, who was 71, died in the accident.
The association Kanai belonged to, the Council Against the Heliport, said it had informed Takeishi's family in writing ahead of a meeting last month that it accepted responsibility for the accident and would end the practice of carrying students and members of the public on sea tours.
The council says it had not known in advance that it would be receiving students on school trips.
“As co-chair, the fact that I could not grasp all of our activities was itself a grave error.”Yoshiyuki Nakamura, co-chair of the council
The family met the group operating the boats and said it would keep pressing for the cause of the accident to be investigated and the findings made public.