national

Gov't considers revoking license of operator of sunken Hokkaido boat

42 Comments

The requested article has expired, and is no longer available. Any related articles, and user comments are shown below.

© KYODO

©2024 GPlusMedia Inc.

42 Comments
Login to comment

Considers? Which means, due to all the red tape that is involved in actually DOING it, it will take an inordinate amount of time to get it done.

The company will go out of business before this happens I will bet!

-3 ( +19 / -22 )

gov’t considers”? - Ridiculous. Should have already been done.

- “…the heaviest administrative penalty ever imposed under the maritime transportation law.” -

13 ( +24 / -11 )

Considering? Such bold leadership.

-4 ( +15 / -19 )

It should have already happened and those responsible face criminal charges as well as being personally sued by the relatives.

8 ( +15 / -7 )

Only considering because it is likely that if anybody began to seach around other examples of the same kind of irregularities would appear and they would have to revoke a lot of licenses.

The operator has the lion share of the responsibility for this, but the government with their lax enforcement of safety regulations is also at fault here. Comparing safety requirements and inspections for these kind of trips in other developed countries leave Japan in a very bad light.

7 ( +21 / -14 )

Face saving from Japan's transport ministry, the business has already become inoperable. And this decision might have more to do with its unwillingness to actually investigate its own role and responsibility. Or bizarrely take on responsibility for showing no action or responsibility beforehand, it’s job is, being responsible for safety. It’s it?

-5 ( +7 / -12 )

Godspeed to those continuing to work at great peril to recover those remaining lost, to give the investigation adequate closure and grieving families some degree of solace.

“A Nippon Salvage Co camera-equipped ship arrived Sat near where the boat sank. It is expected to search using a technique that lets divers work at substantial depths for lengthy periods by reducing the need for decompression at the end of every dive.!The ministry is conducting a special probe into the incident.” -

9 ( +11 / -2 )

Life jackets are not enough?Your body gets slammed against the rocks or are you trapped underneath the boat?

Yes, it’s the tour operator’s fault. Just asking.

-6 ( +2 / -8 )

Read somewhere else that a government-appointed agency had given it's greenlight to cell phone communication (instead of radio) although there was no network in some parts of the boat's route. Is this true and, if so, is this being investigated?

3 ( +6 / -3 )

Gov't considers revoking license of operator of sunken Hokkaido boat

The operator has not even been charged (indicted) yet. The matter is still under investigation. What kind of "law" / "rule of law". is this?'

-13 ( +7 / -20 )

Considering it!?!? What more do they need to do to be closed?

The operator has not even been charged (indicted) yet. The matter is still under investigation. What kind of "law" / "rule of law". is this?'

It's Japan, the rule of law is a facade. Maybe if it was a foreigner it would be under prosecution by now

-11 ( +9 / -20 )

> YubaruToday  06:39 am JST

Considers? Which means, due to all the red tape that is involved in actually DOING it, it will take an inordinate amount of time to get it done.

The company will go out of business before this happens I will bet!

Think a little bit harder, guys.

-6 ( +3 / -9 )

Revoke his license? He should be facing 26 counts of man slaughter.

4 ( +9 / -5 )

Revoke his license? He should be facing 26 counts of man slaughter.

Wonderful rule of law. Who are more barbaric. The Japanese, or Japanafiles.

-25 ( +1 / -26 )

Gov't considers revoking license of operator of sunken Hokkaido boat

Firmly bolting the stable door....

Its quite unlikely that any sane persons would want to book a trip with this company anyway.

3 ( +6 / -3 )

Weak feeble government again.

-11 ( +3 / -14 )

Will they wait until they find the total 26 bodies before revoking the license ?

Heaviest administrative penalty ever imposed under the maritime transportation law

Does revoking the license really impose a heavy penalty ?

What about the costs to conduct the rescue and salvage operation ?

There's no amount of compensation that make up for the loss of 26 lives due to negligence and greed.

-6 ( +3 / -9 )

Does revoking the license really impose a heavy penalty ?

Yes. It is effectively a government agency putting a company out of business and that companies employees out of work. Most people in a democracy would expect some sort of due process in a legal setting with a judgement from a judge before a government can revoke a firm's license to operate. I have seen this take years in the US with trucking companies that violated laws resulting in people getting killed. There are employees and their families who are affected. The idea that some Coast Guard officer can walk in, summarily revoke an operating license and put everyone out of a job should make people take a deep breath and ask if you really want an government agency making those kinds of decisions, or if they should be the sole province of a court of law. At the very least a judge should issue a temporary suspension pending trial, not an agency of the executive branch revoking their license.

-1 ( +5 / -6 )

Should’ve been automatic.

The owner of the company should be in jail for his BS.

At least 35-50 years for his actions.

1 ( +4 / -3 )

Only in Japan! And of course, sadder still than all the lives lost through corruption and extreme negligence here is that the man and others like him will be 100% free to do it all again, since he's not going to be punished and might even get to keep his company license.

This man should be in prison, RIGHT NOW, not walking about and planning with lawyers on how to screw the families further while he can keep what he can.

-9 ( +9 / -18 )

A painfully obvious thing to do. Some fines and criminal charges seem more appropriate.

Is he well connected or something?

-1 ( +6 / -7 )

Quercetum...

Life jackets are not enough?

In this case life jackets were useless. In 2°c water, chances of surviving more that 30 minutes is slim. The nearest rescue helicopter is more than 40 minutes away. However, at the time of the incident this helicopter was already on a mission, had to return, refuel and then head north. Those in life jackets were doomed the moment they entered the water.

1 ( +4 / -3 )

The owner of the company should be in jail for his BS.

Please at least give some semblance of a trial before lynching him.

-6 ( +3 / -9 )

What's there to consider? They were negligent when it came to the health and safety of their passengers. The idiot who called the shots and let the boat go out should be fired and jailed. The entire company should be dismantled to avoid incidents like this from happening again. Why does the Japanese government always drag their feet on everything?

-4 ( +7 / -11 )

Well said purple!

-9 ( +3 / -12 )

My response is: Duh!

0 ( +3 / -3 )

Considers.

Something tells me that jgov always starts with “consider” and then wait for public uproar. If the reactions are postive they go through with the decision.

Such incompetence. I can’t even.

-7 ( +3 / -10 )

@Desert Tortoise

I meant that revoking the license isnt a heavy enough penalty.

-2 ( +3 / -5 )

Sorry, don't watch TV news much, but I can't understand why huge amounts of money are being spent to send divers down to search the boat, rather than just attaching cables to it and pulling it up. Won't that have to done later, in any case?

-3 ( +2 / -5 )

The 58-year-old briefly attended a meeting Saturday in Shari with the families to discuss compensation for the accident, including death benefits and funeral expenses.

Where are insurers ?

How can he discuss anything about it by himself outside meaning he is guilty ?

Was he buying his freedom ?

I am also astonished by all negative returns to the many sensible comments above, like sf2k's for instance.

-4 ( +1 / -5 )

Japan considers revoking license of operator of boat that killed 14 people:

If there has been strong evidence of negligence, incapability and mismanagement, the boat operator must be duly punished.

It would save tourists' lives, and serve as a stern warning to others..

0 ( +3 / -3 )

License and all operations should at least be suspended

I strongly disagree .

The license should be immediately permanently revoked and the operator arrested to set an exaple to others and raise the standards to a higher level.

26 lives have been lost !

-4 ( +1 / -5 )

The licence revocation section’s fax machine is on the blink and until the replacement part arrives, there’s no other means of delivering the message.

-7 ( +0 / -7 )

Revoke his license??? Lock the scumbag up for a very long time!!!

0 ( +0 / -0 )

Jail too.

0 ( +0 / -0 )

See here’s the thing. This isn’t the US. The world does not revolve around US law. Thank god for that.

Those concepts are not confined to US law. US law is in fact based on British judicial system, a system shared by a large number of the world's countries. In many European nations an investigative judge, not the Coast Guard, that would handle the investigation and make decisions about arrests and license revocations. The Coast Guard and prosecutors would do the investigative leg work but only a judge has the authority to shut companies, order arrests or fines. There are good reasons to have law enforcement and the judiciary separate and for the powers of law enforcement to be limited. A hallmark of a just society is one in which judges make decisions regarding the law, not law enforcement. When police and public safety agencies are free to arrest whomever for whatever reason, conduct warrantless searches, close companies down without a specific court order to do so you descend into the kind of society one finds in China or Russia where police are free to act with impunity. I am not defending this company but if there is to be meaningful justice for the victims then the state must use due process and give the owner(s) the right to defend themselves. The proper course of action would be for the Coast Guard to ask a judge to revoke the companies license and conduct a public hearing on the matter before the judge, not the Coast Guard, makes the decision. Think about what kind of nation you want to live in before going off gung-ho wanting to hang the sob. Next time you could be the sob the mob wants hanged and you will be very much interested in due process at that point. I guarandamtee it.

0 ( +0 / -0 )

Revoking this one Operators license is simply a knee-jerk reaction that does not fix the underlying problem of unreliable operators. A better approach would be to come up with a comprehensive standard, something reviewed annually, that has to apply across the board, and if those operators don't meet that standard then they are suspended until those problems are addressed.

The Coast Guard was not doing its job either. There are standards these firms have to meet and they are indeed subject to inspection. A question that needs to be answered is did the Coast Guard do its job or was it negligent in its inspections and enforcement of standards? Btw, this isn't a problem confined to Japan. The US Coast Guard is being criticized for not taking recommendations from NTSB investigations of previous mishaps seriously, leading to preventable and tragic repeats of the same kind of mishap that the NTSB previously warned would happen if the USCG did not strengthen its rules and inspection processes.

0 ( +0 / -0 )

Login to leave a comment

Facebook users

Use your Facebook account to login or register with JapanToday. By doing so, you will also receive an email inviting you to receive our news alerts.

Facebook Connect

Login with your JapanToday account

User registration

Articles, Offers & Useful Resources

A mix of what's trending on our other sites