Kyoto Animation has started talks with the families of the victims of the Kyoto Animation arson attack on how to remember the lives that were lost, focusing on the former site of Studio 1, where the attack occurred, as a possibility for a memorial site. Around 30 families of those who were lost were in attendance.

According to a representative for Kyoto Animation, the talks started on December 4, with none of the families having a strong objection to building a memorial on the former site of Studio 1. After Studio 1 was demolished in April 2020, the remaining area has been closed off and left as a field. A representative of the residents of Fushimi, the area where the studio once stood, said in December 2019 that "if many people continue to visit [the site], the peaceful lives of the neighborhood's residents will be destroyed."

The former site of Studio 1 in April 2020 (via NHK)

While Kyoto Animation and the families discuss how to use the former site and how to set up a remembrance for the victims, two families were quoted by the NHK, with one family member saying that they "don't know how the discussion will turn out, but I want to somehow preserve their name in the place where they had been working," and another family member explaining "A great number of people perished, so I hope that a monument will soon be built at the site as a place of remembrance."

Kyoto Animation will continue to work with the families and the neighborhood on what to do with the former site that can appease all groups.

Source: NHK

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Daryl Harding is a Japan Correspondent for Crunchyroll News. He also runs the YouTube channel about Japan stuff called TheDoctorDazza, tweets at @DoctorDazza, and posts photos of his travels on Instagram.