Relatives of victims of the world's worst single-plane disaster climbed to the crash site Monday on a mountain in Gunma Prefecture to mark the 17th anniversary of the tragedy.
They climbed a trail some 2.2 km up the 1,550-meter Mount Osutaka, carrying flowers and offerings for the victims.
Among the kin was Toshiko Takahama, 58, whose husband, Masami, was the captain of the fully loaded Boeing 747, Japan Airlines Flight 123, with 509 passengers and 15 crew members on board, that left Tokyo bound for Osaka on Aug. 12, 1985.
When rescue workers the following morning reached the site of the 6:56 p.m. crash, they found only four survivors out of the 524 people.
"As years go by, my sorrow and suffering deepen," Takahama said with tears at her husband's marker.
A stone marker set up at the foot of the mountain by relatives was polished and cleaned for the first time in eight years.
Although the number of crash-site visitors has been declining as the relatives age, JAL earlier promised to continue to support the annual pilgrimage.
On the eve of the 17th anniversary of the disaster, the families floated about 300 paper lanterns on a river near the crash site.
College student Kumiko Kambayashi, whose 33-year-old father was killed in the crash, wrote a message on the lantern, "I finally became 20 years old, the age I can drink sake with you, father."
The trail to the crash site will be shortened because a new road will be built to the site in three years.