Yoshiaki Hagino, a 41-year-old who came from 200km away to pay his respects, worked at the company for three years from 2002 and echoed others who spoke of how close-knit a place it was, with pick-up basketball games during lunch break and chatting groups heading out to buy food together.
"They work people hard on productions, but when things are quieter it is pretty relaxed and people have a laugh, sometimes go out for drinks. There were a lot of women there compared to other places." Some of the mourners questioned the company's security. The building was usually accessible only through a card system, but Japanese media quoted company president Hideaki Hatta as saying that was deactivated on Thursday due to the presence of visitors from outside the firm.Yoshiyoi Miki, 62, said the sister of his son-in-law was one of the victims.