After announcing on June 22 that the memorial statue for the victims of the Kyoto Animation arson attack would open in July, the studio released a statement on July 5 saying the memorial will officially open to the public on July 14. The statue will be installed in the Historical Park of Tea and Uji Town in Uji City just outside Uji Station. This location was chosen as Uji is the home city of Kyoto Animation.
Before the opening at 2:00 p.m. (local time), a private ceremony will be held at the statue to commemorate the unveiling. As such, Kyoto Animation is asking visitors to wait until after 2:00 p.m. to visit the memorial. The studio also asks visitors to be courteous of others using the public park during the opening as it is also a long weekend.
Mock-up of the Kyoto Animation-designed statue (Image via NHK)
Kyoto Animation says the public memorial will “serve as a symbol to remember the incident and the prayers and support we received from all over the world, as well as our gratitude and prayers for everyone who perished in the incident.”As previously reported, a second memorial site will also be installed in the space where Studio 1 once stood. It will be a private memorial within a new building that will be used for business purposes by Kyoto Animation and not be open to the public. No other details have been shared about the private memorial.The attack, which occurred on July 18, 2019, took the lives of 36 employees, including The Disappearance of Haruhi Suzumiya director Yasuhiro Takemoto, animator Yoshiji Kigami, chief animation director on the Free! franchise Futoshi Nishiya, Sound! Euphonium character designer Shouko Ikeda, and many more. 35 more people who were inside the building at the time were also injured.
Source: Kyoto Animation
