TOKYO: A woman killed when a pensioner deliberately set himself on fire aboard a moving bullet train in
Japan was on her way to a shrine to give thanks for her “peaceful life”, it emerged yesterday.
Yoshiko Kuwahara died after 71-year-old Haruo Hayashizaki doused himself in fuel and sparked the blaze on the busy 300-kilometre (185-mile)-per-hour train.
“Today I’m visiting Ise shrine to give thanks for my calm, peaceful life,” 52-year-old Kuwahara wrote on her Facebook page on Tuesday morning as she boarded the super-fast Nozomi bullet train at Yokohama.
Ise shrine is one of the most sacred spots in Japan’s native Shintoism, and a major tourist draw. — AFP