Seiichi Katsurada, 62-year-old president of Shiretoko Yuransen, pleaded not guilty to professional negligence resulting in death on Wednesday in the first hearing of his trial at Kushiro District Court over the 2022 sinking of the Kazu I tour boat off Hokkaido. The accident left 20 passengers and crew dead and six others unaccounted for. Katsurada apologized to the bereaved families during the proceedings.
The sinking of the Kazu I tour boat off the Shiretoko Peninsula in eastern Hokkaido in April 2022, which resulted in 20 deaths and six people unaccounted for, has led to the criminal trial of Seiichi Katsurada, 62-year-old president of Shiretoko Yuransen based in Shari, Hokkaido. In the first hearing on November 12, 2025, at Kushiro District Court, Katsurada pleaded not guilty to professional negligence resulting in death.
During the proceedings, Katsurada bowed deeply to the bereaved families in the gallery and said, “As the company’s president, I take seriously the fact that I could not prevent the accident. I will sincerely explain everything I need to say.” He added, “The captain told me, ‘We’ll turn back before the weather worsens,’ so I thought it would be fine and decided to let the boat depart. I don’t know if the crime written in the indictment will be established.”
Defense lawyers argued there was no negligence on Katsurada's part, as he could not have predicted the sinking. They highlighted that a government-commissioned inspection agency overlooked the bow deck hatch's failure to close, cited as a cause, and that the deceased captain unilaterally decided the navigation course. In contrast, the prosecution's opening statement contended, “If it is possible to recognize that the anticipated weather conditions during navigation exceed operational standards and pose a risk of fatal or injury accidents, the foreseeability [of the accident] can be acknowledged.” They further stated, “The nature of the negligence in the accident and the resulting damage were severe, and the overall business operations [of the boat operator] were sloppy.”
According to the indictment, Katsurada failed to instruct the captain to halt operations despite foreseeing risks from wind speeds and wave heights exceeding safety standards, causing 26 deaths. He was arrested in September 2024, indicted the following month, and later released on bail. The trial includes 12 hearings, with a sentence scheduled for June 17, 2026.
It is rare for a company manager not directly involved in ship operations to face criminal charges in a maritime accident, and the case will focus on whether the bad weather made the accident foreseeable and the decision to operate appropriate.