Bereaved families on Wednesday marked seven years since losing their loved ones in a fatal stabbing rampage at a care home for the mentally disabled near Tokyo, in an incident that became one of Japan's worst mass murders.
The families joined residents of the facility to offer silent prayers at the renovated Tsukui Yamayuri En care home in Sagamihara, Kanagawa Prefecture, where a former care worker killed 19 residents and injured 26 others, including two employees, on July 26, 2016.
The 59-year-old mother of one of the victims called Miho, a 19-year-old woman whose family wished to reveal only her first name, has told Kyodo News that she is still in grief over her daughter's death.
"It remains painful to accept the bitter truth that my beloved Miho will never return," she said. "I hope the incident is never forgotten so that the 19 people who lost their lives didn't do so in vain, and so that society progresses toward eliminating discrimination against the disabled."
The memorial ceremony was held at the care home, rebuilt in 2021 by the prefecture. About 60 residents now live at the facility.
Former care worker Satoshi Uematsu, 33, is on death row, his sentence now finalized. He sought a retrial in 2022, but the request was dismissed by the Yokohama District Court in April this year.
On Wednesday, flowers were laid by a stand at a monument for the victims. The stand bears 10 of the victims' names, inscribed with the approval of their families, in memory of the tragedy.
Junichi Miyoshi, a 48-year-old teacher overseeing special needs students at an elementary school in Hyogo Prefecture in western Japan, visited the site, pledging to continue pursuing inclusive education.
"I am telling my students about the incident," Miyoshi said. "I joined my hands in prayer, hoping to foster education that embraces all people."
© KYODO