Overview
- About 420 students, parents, and local residents gathered in the Tomio Kita Elementary School gym for the annual “life assembly.”
- Kaede’s photo was projected, a bell once given to her family was placed on her desk, and two students rang it seven times during a moment of silence.
- This year’s event emphasized handing down the lessons of the case, with students taking a leading role and follow-up “life” lessons held by grade.
- Father Shigeki Ariyama wrote that he feels he has “not moved forward at all” and urged the creation of a society where children are safe.
- The case concluded years earlier with the 2004 arrest, a 2006 death sentence that became final, and the execution carried out in 2013.