This is blog post number 524. For many I suspect that there is no particular significance of this number. But like 123 and 520, I will always associate it with JL123, Japan’s and the aviation world’s Titanic, which has been one of my research areas since 2007.
524 is the official number of crew and passengers on board JL123.
You can read more about my JL123 research on this page, and in my books Dealing with Disaster in Japan: Responses to the Flight JL123 Crash and Osutaka: A Chronicle of Loss in the World’s Largest Single Plane Crash, and by following the JL123 tag and seeing the posts on this site.
For today, I just want to post a picture of one of final notes written by one of those on the plane. This picture also appears in my book Dealing with Disaster in Japan: Responses to the Flight JL123 Crash
As I have posted about before, since I moved my website to this one, consistently one of the most popular post each month is the one that contains my translations of the isho(last messages) written on JL123 (JAL 123). While the focus of the notes – which were all by people who did not survive the crash – may appear to put the focus of this post again on 520 victims like my previous post related to the crash, I think the notes also show awful the conditions were for all on the plane and also the massive impact it had on the families and friends left behind.
I am currently conducting a survey about people’s interest in and impressions of the isho. Please could you help with my research by going to https://www.surveymonkey.co.uk/r/ZVPLJB3.
May all the victims Rest In Peace. My thoughts continue to be with them and all those impacted by the JL123 crash.
Christopher P. Hood 
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