KOBE ¨C Mamoru Hase, the 70-year-old father of a boy murdered in a series of attacks on children in Kobe in?1997,?is still trying to find the truth behind the tragedy.

¡°We, the bereaved family, want to know ¡¯why¡¯ the man who committed the crime killed my son,¡± Hase said in a recent interview, ahead of the 29th anniversary on Sunday of the death of his son, Jun, at the age of 11.

¡°I haven¡¯t received any contact recently¡± from the attacker since 2004, when he was provisionally released from a medical juvenile reformatory, Hase said. The attacker committed the crime when he was 14 years old.

Five elementary school children were attacked between February and May 1997. The attacks left Jun Hase, then in sixth grade, and Ayaka Yamashita, a girl in fourth grade, dead. A part of the boy¡¯s body was left in front of a junior high school, with a note confessing the crime being sent to a local newspaper.

The attacker was exempt from criminal punishment under the juvenile law at the time. The attacks led to a revision of the law, which lowered the age at which people can be liable to criminal punishment from 16 to 14.

Since his release, the attacker had sent letters on the May 24 anniversary of the 11-year-old¡¯s death up until 2017. However, the family has not received such letters since then.

¡°Realistically speaking, it¡¯ll be difficult for (the man) to atone (for his crimes),¡± Mamoru Hase said. ¡°What we want is the truth,¡± he said.

¡°I hope that he¡¯ll send, even if it¡¯s just one time, a convincing letter reflecting on what he did,¡± Hase said, adding that the prospects of that might be ¡°difficult,¡± given that the man had gone ahead and published a memoir in 2015 without consulting the bereaved families.

While acknowledging that the crimes themselves would ¡°naturally¡± be forgotten eventually, Hase said that it is important to pass on the lessons that led to changes in systems and laws.

¡°Anyone could fall victim to a crime,¡± he said. ¡°I hope people treat (the case) as something concerning themselves.¡±

On victims experiencing online abuse and widespread speculation, Hase called on people to refrain from spreading rumors and ¡°information¡± based on assumptions at a time when victims and their families are in deep sadness.

Recalling his son as ¡°kind and adorable,¡± Hase said, ¡°My boy would always be 11 years old (in my mind).¡±

¡°I can¡¯t and don¡¯t want to picture what he would¡¯ve been as a 40-year-old,¡± Hase said.

¡°I think there¡¯s no such thing as closure,¡± he said. ¡°There¡¯s no closure until I die.¡±