Bereaved Family Holds Book Event over 1985 JAL Crash

Ueno, Gunma Pref., Aug. 12 (Jiji Press)--A bereaved family member of one of the 520 victims of the 1985 crash of a Japan Airlines jumbo jet held a picture book event last month at an elementary school near the crash site in Ueno, a village in Gunma Prefecture, northwest of Tokyo.

Machiko Taniguchi, 78, read aloud "My Papa's Persimmon Tree," a picture book she created after her husband, Masakatsu, died in the crash at the age of 40.

The book is based on a real-life story in which a persimmon tree that Masakatsu planted in the family's garden bore fruit two months after the accident, giving hopes to her and their children.

Since Taniguchi published the book at her own expense in 2016, she has held such events in many places. She held the event at the school for the first time.

She hopes that generations who do not know about the accident will understand the importance of daily life and life without anything special.

[Copyright The Jiji Press, Ltd.]