On August 12, 1985, Sakamoto was aboard Japan Airlines Flight 123 (departing from Tokyo) - and heading to Osaka for an event. The plane crashed into two ridges of Mount Takamagahara in Ueno, Gunma, a disaster that remains the second deadliest single-aircraft accident in history with 520 people killed, including Sakamoto. He was interred at Chōkoku-ji Temple in the central Minato-ku area in Tokyo.