Victims' relatives and subway officials on Sunday commemorated the ninth anniversary of a fatal derailment, separately placing flowers at a memorial near the site of the accident.
Tokyo Metro Co. President Hisashi Umezaki and other officials offered prayers at 9:01 a.m., the time of the accident March 8, 2000, near Nakameguro Station in Meguro Ward, Tokyo, that killed five people and injured 67.
The families then offered their own prayers.
"We deeply apologized once more and prayed (for the victims)," Umezaki told reporters.
As in the past, the ceremony was not held in the form of a joint service.
The names of only four of the five victims are inscribed on the memorial. The family of the fifth victim refuses to let her name be used because they are dissatisfied with the company's response to the accident.
