Photo/Illutration Fumiko Nishiyama and her daughter, Yumiko Naito, hold a picture of Toru Nishiyama in Kawasaki’s Nakahara Ward on Sept. 27, 2020. (Kohei Morioka)

KAWASAKI--Toru Nishiyama was said to have been “incredibly lucky” to escape death, but he did not feel that way.

Nishiyama, who was an executive officer of an audio equipment maker, booked a seat on Japan Airlines’ Flight 123 scheduled to take off from Tokyo’s Haneda Airport for Osaka’s Itami Airport at 6 p.m. on Aug. 12, 1985.

He was planning to visit his parents’ home in Tannan (present-day Tamba-Sasayama) in Hyogo Prefecture for the first “obon” following his mother’s death.

However, in early August, Nishiyama had to change his plan. The president of a home appliance sales company in Hiroshima asked Nishiyama to come as early as possible for a party to celebrate the success of his company’s products.

Nishiyama, who would go to great lengths to cater to the needs of his clients nationwide, moved up his schedule and left for Hiroshima on an Aug. 9 flight that departed at the same time as his original flight.

When he arrived at his parents’ home on Aug. 12, breaking news on TV said his original flight had disappeared from the radar.

Flight 123 crashed into a ridge of Mount Osutakayama in Ueno, Gunma Prefecture, at 6:56 p.m., killing 520 passengers and crew members.

When Nishiyama changed flights, an airline employee was grateful because many people, eager to travel in the midsummer obon holidays, were waiting for cancellations.

His wife, Fumiko, 80, remembers him say that he had inexplicable, mixed feelings when he thought that someone who took his canceled seat on the original flight had died for him.

Nishiyama laminated his round-trip tickets for the rescheduled flights and carried them with him at all times.

Although he talked little about the disaster in front of his family, Fumiko said her husband showed a deep sense of remorse for the victims.

In August 1995, 10 years after the accident, Nishiyama made a memorial climb to the ridge of Mount Osutakayama to mourn the dead, along with Fumiko and their only daughter, Yumiko Naito, now 50, who is a nurse. They recalled how Nishiyama put his hands together in prayer in front of each grave marker.

After retirement, Nishiyama attended extension classes at a college close to his home in Yokohama’s Aoba Ward and eagerly studied Buddhism and other religions.

“It seemed that my father couldn’t simply sit well with being called ‘incredibly lucky’ by others,” his daughter said. “I think he was learning various views of life and death.”

Nishiyama developed glaucoma about 10 years ago and almost lost sight in both eyes. Still, he continued going to the college with a cane and sometimes with the help of his family.

However, he collapsed at home in the early hours of March 19 last year and died of heart failure. He was 80 years old.

The bereaved family members placed the two laminated plane tickets into his coffin.

After consulting with a priest, they decided to give him a “kaimyo” (posthumous Buddhist name) of “Keifu Seitetsu Shinji.” The kanji character for the word “sei” represents the purity with which one can pray for complete strangers.

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