Mieko Hattori, whose 16-year-old son was shot dead in Louisiana when he was mistaken for an intruder in 1992, called Wednesday for support for a 10-year-old Japan-U.S. student exchange foundation commemorating her son.
The Japan-Louisiana Friendship Foundation was established in 1994 in memory of Hattori's son, Yoshihiro, who had been studying in the U.S.
It has led to exchange visits by 60 Japanese and American students aimed at broadening friendship and promoting gun control.
Hattori, 56, visited Nagoya Mayor Takehisa Matsubara on Wednesday in an effort to publicize the project after the foundation's main sponsor, a Louisiana distillery, withdrew financial sponsorship, leaving the organization dependent on individual and small donations.