Families' emotions seesaw with new data

Parents of the four students lost when a U.S. submarine accidentally sank the Ehime Maru said yesterday they feel relieved to know how it happened, encouraged by the support of people in Hawai‘i and angry beyond words at what they said was the carelessness of the captain and crew of the USS Greeneville.

Sorting through their emotions almost a month since the tragedy, family members said they have at least managed to overcome the initial shock and crushing frustration that came with not knowing why the sub collided with the Japanese fishery training vessel, leaving nine students, teachers and crew members missing and presumed dead.

But after sitting through the first revealing day of the Navy’s court of inquiry and seeing the sub’s captain, Cmdr. Scott Waddle in person, family members said during a late afternoon press conference that along with their relief has come a growing anger.

Kazuo Nakata, who lost son Jyun in the tragedy, told reporters that he was appalled to hear the "careless" reasons why the sub crew did not identify the ship through either sonar readings or a periscope scan of the surface.

"The ultimate responsibility lies with Cmdr. Waddle and I hope that this would lead to the court-martial," Nakata said in Japanese.

Waddle focus of anger

Waddle took the personal step last week of delivering letters of apology to the Japanese Consul General’s office in Honolulu in an effort to express his personal regret. Family members observed during the press conference that the sub captain did not make eye contact with them in the Navy’s courtroom. They also offered that they hold their own complicated feelings toward him.

Another parent, Ryosuke Terada, father of Yusuke Terada, said he is "very angry" about the lack of careful attention to detail as the sub prepared to make its sudden ascent, but he was surprised by his own reaction to his first glimpse of Waddle.

"I couldn’t feel anything, actually," Terada said. "I was speechless."

Terada, however, also pointed out how, since the sinking, his emotions have advanced from the initial shock and fatigue.

"I thought mentally I was not going to make it. I didn’t know what was going on inside me. I was just so confused."

Terada, echoing sentiments of others, said he has been encouraged by the strong support from people here. "Through their kindness," he said, "I was able to get through that."

A test of endurance

During the press conference, the family members sat at a table at the front of a spacious meeting room at the Japanese Cultural Center of Hawai‘i. The six family members returned Saturday from their hometown of Uwajima to attend the court hearings. Among them are five parents — Mikie Nakata also returned — and one son, Kazuteru Segawa, the eldest of crew member Hirotaka Segawa.

Since the ship went down, the test has been not only emotional but physical, they said. Asked how he was standing up to the strain, Tatsuyoshi Mizuguchi, father of student Takeshi Mizuguchi, put a hand to his stomach and said, "Not well."

He said he has been torn between his responsibilities to his wife and family at home in Ehime prefecture and his need to attend the Navy hearing. Both, he said, are important.

Also reflecting comments of the group, Mizuguchi said he was thankful to the Navy and U.S. Coast Guard for supplying them more information about the accident. But the results, he said, were still hard to take.

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