Photo/Illutration Students of Uwajima Fisheries High School offers flowers to the memorial monument in the schoolyard on Feb. 10. (Tatsuro Kanai)

Nine Japanese words are inscribed on a stone monument at the entrance to Uwajima Fisheries High School in Ehime Prefecture to mourn nine people who died in a collision between the fishery school’s training ship and a U.S. submarine in 2001.

The words are: "umi" (sea), "inochi" (life), "ai" (love) "yujo" (friendship), "kibo" (hope), "heiwa" (peace), "inori" (prayer), "yasuragi" (peace of mind) and "eien" (eternity).

Twenty years ago, the U.S. Navy nuclear submarine USS Greeneville collided with the training ship Ehime Maru off Hawaii. The accident killed nine people on board the ship, including students and teachers of the school.

The tragedy was described in full detail in a book titled “Umi e no inori” (Prayer to the Sea). The three-volume, 970-page book was written by Nobuyoshi Yano, who was vice governor of the prefecture at that time. Yano oversaw negotiations with the U.S. military over such matters as raising the sunken ship from the ocean floor and compensation.

Yano, who spent three post-retirement years writing the book, died in 2019 at the age of 86.

“I repeatedly advised him not to work so hard on the book, but he would not budge, saying he had to finish it as early as possible,” said Yano’s eldest son, Hiroaki, 60.

Every night, Yano spent hours writing the book in his study until after midnight.

Written in a sober style, the book reveals signs of his strong determination to leave records of the deadly maritime disaster for future generations.

It was not until eight months after the accident that the ship was raised to shallow waters and the bodies of the victims began to be recovered.

“I feel unbearably sad,” he wrote. When the cause of the accident was announced, it was “incredible.”

“Why did such a chain of errors occur?”

I recently read the U.S. authority’s report on the accident. I was stunned to learn that it occurred while the submarine was performing an emergency ballast blow surfacing maneuver as a demonstration for civilian visitors on the submarine.

It was a training maneuver done for fun. I find it too painful and distressing to imagine the profound sorrow the students and other victims must have felt.

On the morning of Feb. 10, the 20th anniversary of the accident, I attended a memorial service for the nine victims and heard a bell rung nine times.

The inscription on the stone monument reads, “Don’t fear the sea, love the sea and sail out to sea.” As I read it, I resolved in my heart to “pass on the tragedy of the sea.”

--The Asahi Shimbun, Feb. 14

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Vox Populi, Vox Dei is a popular daily column that takes up a wide range of topics, including culture, arts and social trends and developments. Written by veteran Asahi Shimbun writers, the column provides useful perspectives on and insights into contemporary Japan and its culture.

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