Victims of Mount Ontake Eruption Remembered 10 Years On

Otaki, Nagano Pref., Sept. 27 (Jiji Press)--A memorial service was held Friday to mark the 10th anniversary of the eruption of Mount Ontake in central Japan that left 58 people dead and five others missing.

The ceremony took place at a park in the Nagano Prefecture village of Otaki, located at the foot of the 3,067-meter-tall volcano.

Organized by Otaki and the town of Kiso, also Nagano, the memorial service brought together some 70 participants including bereaved relatives and local officials. Silent prayers were offered at 11:52 a.m., the time when the country's worst volcanic disaster in the postwar era occurred on Sept. 27, 2014.

Representing bereaved relatives, Tokiya Matsui, a 27-year-old elementary school teacher from Kobe, the capital of Hyogo Prefecture, western Japan, gave a speech at the ceremony. "I don't want my students to feel the pain like this. I think it's my mission to pass on the thoughts of my father as a living textbook," said Matsui, who lost his father, then 47, in the eruption.

Nagano Governor Shuichi Abe expressed his determination to work on sufficient volcanic disaster reduction measures so that people can enjoy climbing in the prefecture, one of major mountain regions in Japan, safely.

[Copyright The Jiji Press, Ltd.]