In the summer of 1985, 9-year-old Ken Miyajima boarded an airplane from Tokyo to Osaka by himself. He had a backpack packed with snacks and juice and was excited about meeting his cousins and visiting Japan's high school baseball mecca, Koshien Stadium.
Ken's life ended that day when the Japan Airlines jumbo jet crashed into mountains northwest of Tokyo in what remains the world's deadliest single aircraft disaster. But today his story still resonates with children and adults, who see it as a way to teach the value of life.
Kuniko Miyajima, 71, began speaking at elementary and junior high schools in 2016 about her son and how she got over the deep sorrow of losing him, as part of her latest effort to pass down the lessons of the accident.