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JAL Cancels Celebration of 50 Years of Japan-China Flights, Seen as Inappropriate in Wake of Japanese Boy’s Stabbing

Yomiuri Shimbun file photo
A Japan Airlines plane takes off from Haneda Airport in Tokyo.

The Yomiuri Shimbun

12:34 JST, September 30, 2024

Regular flights between Japan and China marked their 50-year anniversary Sunday. Japan Airlines Co. had planned to hold a commemorative ceremony at Tokyo’s Haneda Airport, but decided to cancel the event after the fatal stabbing of a 10-year-old Japanese boy in Shenzhen, China, on September 18.

The ceremony was scheduled to include speeches by JAL President Mitsuko Tottori and top officials from the Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism Ministry and the Chinese Embassy in Japan, as well as a traditional Chinese performance and a commemorative banner.

“In the immediate aftermath of the incident, we decided that a celebratory event was not appropriate,” said JAL’s public relations department.

On Sunday at Beijing Capital International Airport in China, a banner reading “Thank you for boarding” in Japanese and Chinese was displayed for passengers on two JAL flights to Haneda.