Family’s tears Ryosuke and Masumi Terata made a tearful farewell to their son Yusuke, who was killed in the Feb. 9 Ehime Maru accident, at a memorial service last night in Nuuanu.
fill farewells to
Ehime victim
'Be happy in heaven,' Masumi
Terata says to her son YusukeBy Leila Fujimori
lfujimori@starbulletin.comMasumi Terata emerged from the Nuuanu Mortuary chapel clutching a photo of her 17-year-old son in his school uniform.
Ryosuke Terata followed carrying a corner of the white casket that held his son's body.
After the casket was placed in the hearse, Masumi Terata cried out to her son, repeating his name: "Be happy in heaven Yusuke, Yu-kun."
She and her husband, facing the casket, stood and wept for a few moments.
Yusuke Terata was the elder of the Teratas' two sons. Because the Uwajima Fisheries High School student was reportedly last seen on the deck of the Ehime Maru, the Navy held little hope of finding his body in the wreckage. The fisheries training vessel was sunk when a nuclear submarine, the USS Greeneville, rammed the ship while surfacing.
Buddhist priests, some in purple, others in black garb of the Hawaii Buddhist Association, led the funeral service at the mortuary.
Atop the closed casket were white chrysanthemums and daisies, lei, and the photo of Yusuke, with a string of folded paper cranes surrounding it, said a Japanese Consulate official.
Those in attendance offered incense, including the surviving families of teacher Jun Nakata and missing student Takeshi Mizuguchi, the only victim whose body has yet to be found. Top U.S. Navy officers and an officer with the Japanese Self Defense Forces were also present.
At the end of the service, according to the consulate official, the casket was opened and attendees placed white flowers and lei inside. Masumi Terata looked at the face of her son one last time and said to him, "Be happy in heaven."