What it’s like for orphans in Japan and what likely happened to Makoto after her parents died is a topic that’s been discussed before, and which I’ve reblogged a post or two about. What really blew my mind in the linked article is the very strong likelihood that Naoko had a specific real-life plane crash in mind when she wrote that particular detail of Makoto’s backstory.
Fortunately, Japan has had relatively few domestic plane crashes that resulted in deaths. Assuming a basis in the real world (which is a fair assumption, thanks in part to the detailed research Ms. Takeuchi did when creating the world of Sailor Moon and for the reasons described below), this makes it possible to narrow down actual dates and give us an age for Makoto at the time the tragedy hit.
When she first appeared, Makoto was 14 years old, which would put her birth date at December 5, 1977. That limits our window for plane crashes to December 6, 1977 through the late 1980s. During that time, there were three plane crashes in Japan, two of which resulted in fatalities: JAL350 and JAL123. Though either of these are possible, there’s a strong argument for the latter of the two, in 1985.
JAL350 crashed in 1982, when Makoto would’ve been four years old and probably wouldn’t have retained many memories of her parents. JAL123, on the other hand…
Also, and perhaps most importantly, the tragedy of JAL123 is the greatest single-airplane related tragedy at the time, resulting in a loss of life of all but 4 passengers (two of them children, one of which was 8 years old – close to the age Makoto would have been) and which even to this day is still brought up every year on the anniversary of the crash. At the time that Ms. Takeuchi wrote Sailor Moon, this obviously would have been strong in her mind and in social consciousness. To say “airplane crash” in 1992 would almost certainly be referring to that fateful day in 1985.
JAL123 crashed on August 12, 1985. Makoto would’ve been 7.
I’d honestly never even thought about it, but as Tux Unmasked points out, Mako’s phobia of planes such that she has an instinctive panic response to the sound of a jet engine suggests that she was most likely on the plane with her parents when it crashed.
The Wikipedia article about the crash gives some ideas about what that experience would have been like:
Tag: mako day reblog
Headcannon: Makoto is amazingly light on her feet. It’s part of what makes things like dancing come so easily to her.
When Minako first notices, she assumes it’s a habit based in sports or fighting tactics. That’s why she’s light footed, after all.
But really, it’s something Makoto learned to try and negate her size. She’s always been too tall for her age, “too big,” so she learned to sound small, especially after her parents died and she was shuffled among guardians who didn’t really want her. No stomping, no shouting, no big laughter. She learned to step so quietly that they had to see her to know she was there.
headcanon i will never abandon: trans girl makoto kino
#moving from school to school with no past and no relatives to link her to
#she keeps wearing the uniform from the one school she got a girls uniform from
#and claiming to the administrators that she’s too tall for another
#desperately trying to be feminine and perfect
#hating her body and her strength
#until she’s chosen as a sailor senshi
#strong and feminine and beautiful
#and her life suddenly fits
#ami is the first person she tells and ami nods and listens and asks the right questions and offers a hug
#that night she stays up all night working on her laptop
#and by dawn every birth and school record in japan reflects makoto properly
#by the time she gets to juuban high the girls uniform is waiting for heri am here for trans girl mako
Since Mako’s canonically the youngest of the Inners, I like to think there’s a moment where everyone’s like “shit, our mom friend is a baby” and they spend like a week trying to baby her. Usagi brings her candy and baked goods from Ikuko. Rei is constantly set to ~totally sage advice~ mode. Mina tries to cook for her. Ami is just more forthcoming with hugs and a little more bent on “now listen, take care of yourself.”
Mako insists they don’t have to and is kind of frustrated by some of it (Mina you’re going to burn this house down), but she’s also incredibly touched that they want to take care of her so badly.
SittingOverHereDreaming 