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The Yomiuri Shimbun Kaori Ogami, left, and her second daughter Aiko, look at a picture of her three children who were killed in a drunk-driving accident at a columbarium.
By Kosuke Okabayashi / Yomiuri Shimbun Staff Writer
20:00 JST, April 12, 2025
The mother who lost her three children in a 2006 drunk-driving accident in Fukuoka has recently talked about her feelings in an interview with The Yomiuri Shimbun.
It has been 19 years since the night when she desperately tried to save her young children, after the car the family was in was plunged into the sea from a bridge. Kaori Ogami, now 48, has been asking herself the meaning of her survival. This spring, she started giving lectures to share her experiences and convey the importance of life.
“I will live my life to the fullest,” Kaori said in February, as she spoke to her deceased children at a church columbarium that houses their funeral urns. The three urns are placed side by side, with the one for her daughter Saaya, who was 1 year old at the time of the accident, placed between those for her sons Hiroaki, 4, and Tomoaki, 3.
Every night, the two brothers slept on either side of their little sister while holding her hands. They were on good terms and did not fight. They used to wait their turn to have a story read to them before going to bed. “They were ordinary but happy days. I wished time would stop for us,” she recalled.
Tragic incident
It was Aug. 25, 2006, when the accident occurred. A car driven by a then Fukuoka municipal government official rear-ended the car carrying the five members of the Ogami family, resulting in the deaths of their three children. The man was indicted for dangerous driving causing death and injury and other charges.
The Fukuoka District Court sentenced him to prison for seven years and six months for professional negligence resulting in death and injury. However, the Fukuoka High Court dismissed the lower court’s ruling and found him guilty of dangerous driving causing death and injury and other charges in May 2009. The man was sentenced to 20 years in prison and the ruling was finalized.
Courtesy of Kaori Ogami Kaori Ogami and her three children enjoy themselves in Fukuoka on Aug. 22, 2006. From the top: Hiroaki, Tomoaki, and Saaya.
On the day of the accident, Kaori had sent her sons to a greengrocer on an errand for the first time. She was relieved when they got home safely and made curry, cutting potatoes and carrots with them.
After that, her family left home by car to go and catch beetles. On their way back home at night, they entered the Umi no Nakamichi Ohashi bridge in Fukuoka. Her husband Akio was driving, and their three children had fallen asleep in the back seat.
The next moment, their vehicle was rear-ended by a car moving at high speed and plunged off the bridge into the sea about 15 meters below. The next thing she knew, they were in the water. Thinking, “I have to save them,” Kaori got out of the car, pulled Saaya and Tomoaki out of the broken window and handed them over Akio. However, the car, with Hiroaki still inside, sunk to the bottom of the sea. “Hiro! I’m sorry, I’m sorry,” she cried.
While the four family members were rescued, Saaya and Tomoaki later died. Kaori kept blaming herself for surviving and was diagnosed with severe depression caused by post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). When people heard about the accident, some gave her words of encouragement. However, that made her unable to talk about the hardship and suffering she went through.
She felt like she was empty. But she remembered that Hiroaki had looked forward to his family having a fourth child.
Starting again
“We should start a family again,” she thought. In September 2007, a new life was born. Kaori named the baby Aiko, a Japanese name that means “love,” as she wanted to put her love for her four children — the new baby and the three deceased children — into the name.
In 2008, her family moved overseas to where some relatives lived so that they could focus on child-rearing and treatment. Later, the couple had their third and fourth sons, Mahiro, now 15, and Hiroki, 8, and a third daughter, Hikari, 13.
In 2013, they returned to Japan. The family lived in a different prefecture rather than returning to Fukuoka, and Akio, now 51, worked in civil engineering to support his family.
Despite the time that has passed, Kaori still suffers from feelings of guilt for having survived the accident, but she also thinks that she fully loved her deceased children even though it was for such a short period of time.
Her second daughter, Aiko, 17, says her mother is always there for her, like the sun. “My mother never gives up no matter the situation,” she said.
This summer will mark 19 years since the accident. Society’s views on drunk driving have changed significantly, but the fight to end it goes on. As Kaori’s symptoms of depression have improved, she started working in the education field in Fukuoka Prefecture in April while also starting to deliver lectures on the importance of life.
She hopes to convey the importance of life to all drivers. Through talking about her feelings of grief with those who need her, she wants to help them heal. “I was kept alive to give new life. Now, I think I know what I have to say,” she said.
