The anguish of mountain club survivors who lost their classmates in Monday's avalanche tragedy in Tochigi Prefecture has just begun to sink in.
With time still remaining before schools reopen in April following spring break, the board of education and faculty now faces the prospect of having to console students, who in some cases witnessed their friends die before their very eyes.
And in what might be considered too little, too late, following the deaths of seven students and one teacher near a Nasu ski resort, the prefecture's school board may ban "winter climbing" among high school students and require mandatory advance safety checks on training trips, which have not been subject to inspections previously.