The head of a tour boat operator who was arrested Wednesday over the high-profile sinking of a vessel off Hokkaido in 2022 that left 20 aboard dead and six others missing had described himself as an “amateur” who didn’t “know much about ships.”
Seiichi Katsurada, the president of the company operating the Kazu I sightseeing boat that sank off the coast of Hokkaido’s Shiretoko Peninsula in April 2022 with 26 people on board, admitted to having little knowledge of ships in an interview before his arrest, despite being at the helm of the business.
Those familiar with Katsurada, 61, criticized him, saying, "He’s not the kind of person who can look at a ship and determine what’s wrong. He should never have been in charge of operations."
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