Japan Air Lines Flight 123 (aircraft involved pictured) crashed into Mount Takamagahara in Gunma Prefecture, killing 520 of 524 people on board, including singer Kyu Sakamoto, in the world's worst single-aircraft aviation disaster.

Japan Air Lines Flight 123 was a scheduled domestic passenger flight from Tokyo to Osaka, Japan. On August 12, 1985, the Boeing 747 flying the route suffered a severe structural failure and explosive decompression 12 minutes after takeoff. After flying under minimum control for 32 minutes, the plane crashed in the area of Mount Takamagahara, 100 kilometres from Tokyo.

Mount Takamagahara is a mountain in the Gunma Prefecture of Japan, near Ueno village. It is 1,978.6 metres tall. Takamagahara is the world of heaven in Japanese mythology.

Gunma Prefecture is a landlocked prefecture of Japan located in the Kantō region of Honshu. Gunma Prefecture has a population of 1,937,626 and has a geographic area of 6,362 square kilometres (2,456 sq mi). Gunma Prefecture borders Niigata Prefecture and Fukushima Prefecture to the north, Nagano Prefecture to the southwest, Saitama Prefecture to the south, and Tochigi Prefecture to the east.

Hisashi "Kyu" Sakamoto , legally registered as Hisashi Ōshima since 1956, was a Japanese singer and actor.

An aviation accident is an event during aircraft operation that results in serious injury, death, or significant destruction. An aviation incident is any operating event that compromises safety but does not escalate into an aviation accident. Preventing both accidents and incidents is the primary goal of aviation safety.