<figure id="attachment_446641" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-446641" style="width: 590px" class="wp-caption alignnone"><a href="#" data-ident_hash="31c46d7a"><img src="https://res.cloudinary.com/fridaydigital/image/private/t_article_image/wpmedia/2025/11/f1eb1740279cfb2aa867d75360782c20.jpg" alt=""></a><figcaption id="caption-attachment-446641" class="wp-caption-text">Defendant Katsuraida leaves the Kushiro District Court after his trial.</figcaption></figure>
<p><span class="strongInContent"> I don&#8217;t know if this is against the law.</span></p>
<p> Standing on the witness stand, the defendant took a piece of paper from his chest and read the following words: &#8220;I don&#8217;t know if this is against the law.</p>
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<p> The high-profile trial began at the Kushiro District Court. The trial is for Seiichi Katsurada, 62, the president of the company that operated the sinking of the Shiretoko cruise ship &#8220;KAZU1&#8221; off the Shiretoko Peninsula in Hokkaido on April 23, 2010, in which 20 people were killed and six are still missing. Katsurada is charged with manslaughter. In court, he apologized, saying, &#8220;I sincerely apologize to the family,&#8221; but he declined to say whether he was responsible, saying, &#8220;I don&#8217;t know if I will be convicted of the crime.</p>
<p><span class="strongInContent"> In court, he said, &#8220;The bow section of the ship is sinking. Come quickly!&#8217; &#8216;It&#8217;s Kashni Falls. Kashni! a graphic audio recording of a man who appeared to be the captain of the vessel calling for the Coast Guard to come to his rescue was released. On the day of the accident, there was a strong wind and wave warning. The prosecution argued that the defendant could have foreseen the accident and should have instructed the captain to stop sailing even after the ship had left. The defense countered that the defendant could not have foreseen the accident.</span></p>
<p> FRIDAY Digital interviewed people close to Katsuraida immediately after the tragic accident. We would like to reintroduce the reputation of the president of the operating company, who was an &#8220;amateur in the sea.</p>
<h2> I don&#8217;t understand it well.&#8221;</h2>
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<p> During the two-and-a-half-hour press conference, he got down on his knees three times.</p>
<p> On April 27, 2010, four days after the &#8220;Kazuwan&#8221; accident, Katsurada finally held a press conference to apologize. However, he went on to give explanations that cast doubt on his ability to judge the ocean conditions, such as, &#8220;It was not stormy in the morning. The content of the speech was suspiciously lacking in safety awareness.</p>
<p><span class="strongInContent"> Even his &#8220;getting down on his knees&#8221; appeared to be a performance. The president is an amateur in the sea. I don&#8217;t think he really understands the cause of the accident or what went wrong.</span></p>
<p> Mr. A, a resident living near Utoro Port, the home port of Kazuwan, who knew Katsurada, said, &#8220;I was told by an acquaintance that he was an &#8216;amateur diver. What kind of person is Katsurada, who is described by his acquaintances as an &#8220;amateur diver?</p>
<p><span class="strongInContent"> Mr. A continues, &#8220;I went to high school in Abashiri, about 60 km away from my hometown of Shari. I went to high school in Abashiri, about 60 kilometers away from my hometown of Shari. After graduation, I think I went to a vocational training school in Ibaraki Prefecture to learn pottery making techniques. I came back to Shari-machi after I turned 40, I think. I was helping out at the guest house and hotel that my parents ran.&#8221;</span></p>
<p> It was April 2003 when Katsurada succeeded his parents and became president of Shoritokomura, which operates the &#8220;National Guest House Katsurada&#8221; and other facilities. It was the following year that he acquired Shiretoko Sightseeing Boat.</p>
<div data-friday-nextpage-lead=" Serious &quot;infighting&quot; at the operating company"></div>
<h2>[Joon] is a black-owned company that is going right and left.</h2>
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<p><span class="strongInContent"> &#8220;The previous president was getting old, so he put the &#8216;Shiretoko Pleasure Boat&#8217; up for sale. Mr. Katsurada came forward. He bought the entire office and ship for tens of millions of yen.</span></p>
<p> Immediately after that, however, internal strife broke out at Shiretoko Pleasure Boat.</p>
<p><span class="strongInContent"> Mr. Katsurada was a professional in the inn business, but he was an amateur when it came to the sea. It seems that business came first, and even when the seas were rough, he would tell them, &#8216;Just send out the boats! &#8216; to make a profit even when the seas were rough. All of the skilled crew members who rebelled quit. I heard that they had no choice but to hire inexperienced staff back at a lower wage.</span></p>
<p> Mr. B, the captain of &#8220;Kazuwan,&#8221; the ship that caused the accident, was also questioned about his abilities. He joined &#8220;Shiretoko Yusen&#8221; about two years before the accident. Before that, he had worked for an organization that operated amphibious vehicles, but he had no experience piloting a ship in the often rough seas off the coast of Shiretoko.</p>
<p><span class="strongInContent"> It is said that it takes three years for a person to become proficient enough to pilot a ship, but Mr. Katsurada said, &#8220;He has good sense,&#8221; and made Mr. B the captain after only a year or so. Moreover, he put him in charge of two ships by himself. Mr. B, who was serious and taciturn, must have been troubled by the fact that he could not refuse his requests. On his Facebook page, he posted the following I&#8217;m stuck left and right in a black company.</span></p>
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<p> In June 2009, Mr. B ran the ship aground shortly after setting sail, and in January of the following year he was referred to prosecutors on charges of professional negligence and endangering pedestrians.</p>
<p><span class="strongInContent"> Mr. A continued, &#8220;At the apology press conference immediately after the accident, Mr. Katsurada said that the final responsibility was &#8216;mine,&#8217; but that &#8216;the captain made the decision to take the ship out on his own. I got the impression that he was placing the responsibility on Mr. B.</span></p>
<p><span class="strongInContent"> It is customary for small sightseeing boats to go into service during the Golden Week holidays, but the &#8220;Shiretoko excursion boat&#8221; was moved up nearly a week, probably because profit was the priority. I believe that Mr. Katsurada&#8217;s disregard for the weather and disregard for safety resulted in a catastrophe.</span></p>
<p> The verdict in the trial mentioned at the beginning of this article is scheduled to be handed down on June 17 next year.</p>


 Kyodo News

 A high-profile trial has begun for the president of the company charged with manslaughter in the Shiretoko cruise ship accident that claimed the lives of 26 people. The president, who has been called an "amateur on the sea," does not have a high reputation. The following is a report on the president's "black reputation" as told by those involved.

Just get the ship out of here!&#8221; &#8230;President of a cruise ship that killed 26 people&#8230; The reputation of &#8220;amateurs of the sea&#8221; that caused all the skilled crew to rebel and quit.

Just get the ship out of here!” …President of a cruise ship that killed 26 people… The reputation of “amateurs of the sea” that caused all the skilled crew to rebel and quit.

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