Japanese mother of 3 kids killed by drunken driver gives 1st lecture

SATURDAY, JULY 12, 2025
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The mother of three young children who were killed in a drunken driving accident in Japan in 2006 has given a lecture for the first time on the dangers of driving under the influence of alcohol.

In the lecture at Hakata High School in the southwestern city of Fukuoka on Friday, Kaori Ogami, 48, told her students, "I hope you will become adults who can choose by their own will not to drink and drive."

On the night of Aug. 25, 2006, a vehicle driven by a drunken man crashed into a car carrying Ogami and four other members of her family in Fukuoka, causing it to fall into the sea. The accident resulted in the deaths of Ogami's first son, Hiroaki, 4, second son, Tomoaki, 3, and first daughter Saya, 1.

The man, a former Fukuoka municipal government employee, was convicted of charges including dangerous driving resulting in death and injury, and given a 20-year prison sentence. The incident led to the introduction of stricter penalties for drunken driving.

In the roughly 30-minute lecture, Ogami reflected on the night of the accident. She said that she was able to retrieve Tomoaki and Saya from the sinking vehicle but had to give up saving Hiroaki after being unable to find him. "I had to make a terrifying decision," she recalled. Tomoaki and Saya died later.

Japanese mother of 3 kids killed by drunken driver gives 1st lecture

Ogami condemned drunken driving as "a crime one chooses to commit." Noting that many lives are continuing to be lost by drunken driving, she said, "Precious lives should not be taken away by something like this."

"After listening (to Ogami), I felt my heart gripped with sorrow," Rin Hayakawa, 17, a third-year student of the high school, said. "I want to talk to my family and friends about the dangers of drunken driving."

After the lecture, Ogami and the students distributed leaflets aimed at eradicating drunken driving in front of a train station near the school.

Japanese mother of 3 kids killed by drunken driver gives 1st lecture

[Copyright The Jiji Press, Ltd.]