The president of a tourist boat operator was found guilty on Wednesday of professional negligence resulting in the deaths of 26 people on a vessel that sank off Hokkaido in 2022. The Kushiro District Court sentenced Seiichi Katsurada, 62, to five years in prison. The 19-ton Kazu I sank on April 23, 2022, during a cruise around the Shiretoko Peninsula, a World Natural Heritage site on Japan's northern main island. Katsurada was not onboard the vessel. The judge stated Katsurada could have foreseen the risk due to weather forecasts and that his failure to cancel the cruise caused the sinking. Prosecutors argued Katsurada failed to exercise due care. Katsurada's defense team argued he could not have foreseen the sinking and appealed the ruling.