Two people died in March when two small boats carrying students from a Kyoto high school on a peace-studies trip capsized off Henoko in Okinawa, and the parents of a 17-year-old girl killed in the sinking say the school has still not explained how it happened.
Eighteen students of Doshisha International High School were aboard the two boats, which overturned in waters off the coast of Nago, Okinawa. Chika Takeishi, a second-year student, and boat captain Hajime Kanai, then 71, died. Fourteen others were injured, some seriously.
Takeishi was found trapped under a boat, her life jacket caught on it, and was pulled from the water about an hour after the capsize. What emerged afterward, ABEMA Times reported, was a run of safety failures: the boats were operating without registration, they left port under a wave advisory, and no teacher was aboard.
A grave in Kyoto
Takeishi grew up in Kyoto with her parents and a sister four years older. She spent part of her childhood abroad and enrolled at Doshisha International for junior high. In high school she studied abroad briefly, taking courses that included astronomy.
She came to Okinawa for the peace-studies program and told her family she wanted to see the coral reefs. The sea off Henoko, on the main island's northern coast, holds an emerald reef. A US Marine Corps base sits on the shore, and landfill work for a new airfield is under way.
This year her name was carved into the gravestone of her grandfather, who died five years ago. Her mother visits the grave and told ABEMA Times she worries about her daughter being alone there.
“Even if they tell me her soul isn't in the grave, I think she'd be lonely by herself if I didn't come.”Takeishi's mother, speaking to ABEMA Times
Two days after the sinking, her mother stood before the boat her daughter had been on. "Tomochang, Mama's here. Where did you get caught? You must have been scared," she said, using the family's nickname for her. The body was brought home. "Welcome back," her sister said. "You must have been lonely. Thank you for riding home with us."
Sorting the boxes
Three months after the accident, her parents were clearing out the Kyoto house to pack up her belongings. Her mother went through boxes of clothes, setting aside what she could not throw away.
“I can't throw them out, so there's a lot left. I feel like she might come back. She isn't coming back, though.”Takeishi's mother, speaking to ABEMA Times
She said she checks photographs to see which sweater or necklace her daughter was wearing, and then looks for the item. "If I throw things away, all that's left is the photos," she said.
The family's account follows a case that has kept returning to the school's handling of the trip. In a session seven months after the accident, the school's chairman, Hatta, apologized under sharp questioning over whether leaving the matter alone would let it fade. He was also asked whether the president should resign.
The parents say they have had no explanation from the school that satisfies them. Their daughter's name is now on a stone in Kyoto, and the questions about who carried the risk of taking students onto those waters remain with them.