A local fishing operator in Hokkaido is preparing to hold a shipboard ceremony to remember people involved in the fatal tourist boat sinking off the coast of the Shiretoko Peninsula in the prefecture three years ago.
Kenji Sakurai, a 61-year-old fisher in the town of Rausu, volunteered his time to search for passengers and crew members who went missing when the Kazu I sightseeing boat sank on April 23, 2022. The incident left 20 people on board dead and six others still unaccounted for.
"All we have left to do now is to pray for good weather on the day," Sakurai says, having completed almost all preparations to hold the event in July around where the boat went under.
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