1st Hearing on Fatal Sinking in Shiretoko: Trial should Answer Bereaved Families’ Questions

Editorial

15:19 JST, November 13, 2025

Three years after an accident on the cold sea took the lives of many people, a trial has begun to seek to hold the defendant criminally liable. The defendant must sincerely answer the questions of the bereaved families — why were these precious lives taken?

The first hearing of the trial for defendant Seiichi Katsurada, president of the operating company for a sightseeing boat, was held at the Kushiro District Court in Hokkaido. He has been charged with professional negligence resulting in death. The charge is from the April 2022 sinking of a sightseeing boat, which had 26 passengers and crew on board, off the Shiretoko Peninsula in Hokkaido. The ruling will be handed down in June next year after 11 hearings.

The defendant is charged with failing in his duty at that time to order the boat captain to cancel the operation despite the risk of the boat capsizing due to bad weather, resulting in all 26 people on board drowning to death when the ship sank.

At the first hearing, the defendant apologized, saying, “I deeply apologize to those who lost their lives.” His defense lawyers, however, argued his innocence, stating that he “could not have foreseen the accident.”

The boat sailed by itself, and everyone on board died, including the captain, leaving no witnesses. Under such circumstances, to what extent will the trial be able to clarify the situation at the time of the accident?

The focus is on whether the defendant could have foreseen the accident. During the hearing, he said, “I heard the captain say, ‘We’ll turn back before the sea gets rough,’ and I thought it was safe, so I approved [the boat’s] departure.” After its departure, the defendant left the office and did not even contact the boat.

The defendant was responsible for boat operations and safety management. In addition, the captain is said to have lacked sufficient navigation experience.

In a 2016 bus accident in the town of Karuizawa, Nagano Prefecture, that killed 15 people, including university students, the Nagano District Court handed down prison sentences to the defendants, including the president of the bus operating company. The court found them responsible for the accident because they allowed the driver to drive the bus without confirming the driver’s skill level.

Regarding the Shiretoko accident, too, the key point is whether the defendant adequately fulfilled his duties.

The defendant had not appeared in public since holding a press conference after the accident. Bereaved families will take part in the hearings.

How did the defendant view the responsibility of operating a vessel carrying so many lives? To what extent did he take measures to prevent accidents? He should sincerely answer such questions in his own words.

Following the accident, the central government compiled 66 measures to prevent a recurrence, including strengthened penalties for ship operators that are lax about safety management. Most of them have already been implemented. An examination system for those responsible for operations and safety management has also begun.

However, an incident came to light last year in which a subsidiary of Kyushu Railway Co. concealed water leakage on a passenger boat and continued operations. There is still a long way to go before a safety management system by operators is established. To ensure they can take truly effective measures, it is essential to learn lessons from this trial.

(From The Yomiuri Shimbun, Nov. 13, 2025)