Takuya Matsunaga is seen at an interview in Tokyo's Toshima Ward, in the home he lived in with his wife Mana and daughter Riko who were fatally struck by a speeding car, on Aug. 7, 2021. Riko's toys remain in the room. (Mainichi/Masahiro Ogawa)

       TOKYO -- The man who lost his wife and daughter in April 2019 after they were struck by a speeding car in Tokyo's Ikebukuro has written a blog entry directly addressing the driver -- who maintains he is innocent -- reading: "Why don't we end the fight once the initial court decision is made?"

       A little past noon on April 19, 2019, a speeding car driven by now 90-year-old Kozo Iizuka -- former head of the now-defunct Agency of Industrial Science and Technology under the jurisdiction of the former Ministry of International Trade and Industry -- fatally hit Mana Matsunaga, 31 at the time, and her then 3-year-old daughter Riko, while they rode a bicycle across an intersection in Tokyo's Toshima Ward. Nine others suffered serious and minor injuries.

       Though the speed limit was 50 kilometers an hour, the car was traveling at about 96 kph. In a public hearing, it was said that the car's recording device did not show the driver hit the brake. Iizuka, who was accused of negligent driving resulting in death and injury, claimed he "did not mistakenly step on the accelerator instead of the brake."

       Prosecutors are seeking a sentence of seven years in prison, the upper limit of the statutory penalty, saying "he shows no remorse." The Tokyo District Court will hand down the ruling to Iizuka on Sept. 2

       On Aug. 5, Mana Matsunaga's 35-year-old widower Takuya posted a 1,100-character message entitled "To the defendant, Kozo Iizuka" on his blog. He began the blog after the accident as a way to write about his activities to prevent more like it. Until now, he has written about his requests to the government and what he felt about the trials, but never used the defendant's actual name.

       Takuya told the Mainichi Shimbun he wrote the entry in less than 30 minutes the day before. "He said he was looking at my blog, so I thought my words might reach the defendant." At the public hearing in June, when he directly asked Iizuka if he understood the bereaved family's feelings, Iizuka replied, "I have been reading the blog and newspaper articles, so I think I understand them well."

       The post begins by saying, "I will write my wishes before the court ruling," and continues: "I respect your legal right to claim innocence. To be honest, we have been suffering from it (the claim of innocence) for the longest time, but I also understand to a certain extent how you would want to try to escape crime and punishment."

       Takuya told the Mainichi that the defendant is free to make any claim, and emphasized, "I can't control the defendant's feelings or behavior, nor do I intend to force him to do anything." Still, the widower continues to make demands for strict punishment within the law's framework, and hopes Iizuka will atone for his crime in prison.

       However, Takuya said that as the trial continued, he "always felt an uneasiness that no one would be happy." He added, "Their lives aren't coming back; no ruling will ever save us. As in our case, when I consider whether the defendant himself and his family can be happy, I began to wonder if it makes sense to continue with the trial."

       Before directly asking the defendant questions in the public hearing, Takuya had pledged to "be a demon," but now he says it's hard to keep resenting people. "As long as the trial continues, I can't be a person full of love for others, who Mana and Riko wanted me to be."

       In the blog, Takuya described these thoughts and his future wish: "I want to be myself. That's why I don't want to use any more energy to keep fighting you. I want to devote all my energy to eliminating even one traffic accident."

       While Takuya has actively accepted media interviews and increased the number of messages he spreads via his blog and other methods, he has been receiving more and more abuse on social media. "The more I speak up, the more afraid I feel at times. But I want to continue activities to abolish accidents so that their (Mana and Riko's) deaths will have meaning," he vowed.

       He says he plans to calmly accept the ruling. "I believe they will make the right decision, but the reality remains the same. I have no expectations or concerns." That said, Takuya has his last remaining hope that the defendant will change his behavior. "If he accepts what he did and apologizes from the bottom of his heart, I can live with my head up. I hope I can stop resenting people when the first trial ends."

       (Japanese original by Makoto Kakizaki, Tokyo City News Department)

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