The school where a 9-year-old girl died after a powerful earthquake jolted Osaka this week reopened Thursday as staff members, students and local residents continued to grieve.

"I am really saddened," Yoshimi Tanaka, principal of Juei Elementary School in the city of Takatsuki, Osaka Prefecture, said during a school assembly. "I cannot forget her — she was always surrounded by friends and looked happy."

Some students shed tears during the assembly at the school where Rina Miyake was a fourth-grade student.