Former nurse passes on lessons from experience in aftermath of JAL crash

Fumiko Yamamoto teaches students about “seitai,” or the arrangement of a deceased person's body, during a class on Feb. 13 in Saitama Prefecture. The name tag for one of the participants is pixelated for privacy reasons. | JAPANESE RED CROSS SOCIETY / VIA JIJI

JIJI

Aug 16, 2026

Fumiko Yamamoto still vividly remembers the moment she entered a gymnasium-turned-morgue as a nurse in the aftermath of the 1985 Japan Airlines crash.

As she passed through the blackout curtain, “something heavy pressed down on my shoulders,” recalled Yamamoto, now 82. “(That feeling) still remains in my heart. I felt it might have been the souls of the deceased.”

The crash remains the world’s deadliest single-aircraft accident, with 520 passengers and crew members losing their lives. The enormous impact of the crash and subsequent fires left many victims’ bodies badly damaged, with some missing body parts or burned beyond recognition.

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