Two weeks in Japan

My two weeks in Japan is about to come to a close. By this time tomorrow I should be enroute on the first leg of my trip back to Petersburg.

Although the circumstances that initiated this trip was tragic and sad, it turned out to be a good trip. I got to meet numerous relatives, some that I hadn’t seen for some 10 to 16 years.

The memorial/funeral was certainly an eye-opening and interesting experience. This was the first such service/ritual in Japan that I was involved.

I arrived too late to be a part of the service that placed the body in the casket. I went later to view the body and the casket was filled with items meaningful to Mom.

The memorial was held at the church right next to the Adventist hospital, just a few minutes’ walk from the house. The service was attended by somewhere around 300-400 people, and during the ceremony at the end placing flowers in the casket, an additional 100-200 employees from the hospital came through. It felt like a memorial for a minor celebrity – which apparently my mom was. Everyone spoke of her ever cheerful outlook, her smile, and her laughter. That made more positive impression on people than any words could ever do.

The next part of the ceremony and ritual was completely unexpected, at least from a Western perspective. Family and close friends boarded two buses led by a Hearse (actually a stretched Toyota). We went to the crematorium where the ritual of cremating the body took place. We paid our final respects to Mom and then the casket was slid into the furnace. We went up to a waiting area and about 40 minutes later we were ushered back down. The remains were slid out for our examination and then taken to the side of the room where everyone took part in collecting the bones (with chopsticks) and placing each piece into the urn. From there we boarded buses and arrived at a Chinese restaurant where we partook of a memorial dinner.

Following dinner we returned home (carrying Mom’s portrait – it was carried and was at the head of each procession all the way from the memorial to the dinner – and the urn) where the funeral service caretakers came in and set up a little altar where the portrait and urn was placed alongside flowers and numerous memorabilia.

Other than that, the past two weeks have been pretty fun and enjoyable. There’s a little bit of loneliness and sadness that I sense every now and then, but no big sense of loss or grief. I’m a little surprised but perhaps not too unexpected. I think it was harder waiting for my mom to pass away than to deal with the death itself. Now that she’s gone there’s no more uncertainty and no more waiting for something to happen. I know I’ll see my mom again when Christ returns.

So the family has been having a good time every day. We’ve been eating well, both cooking at the house and eating out. I’ve had plenty of good Japanese food. Among them: Real ramen, ramen with tomato based soup, sushi, more sushi, real chicken donburi, 1/2 lb. steak for $50, and Izakaya (Japanese pub) food. Oh, and I can’t forget all the wagashi (Japanese confections). I might have gained a few pounds…

I got to experience being in the midst of historical national elections. The Democratic Party of Japan won a huge victory over the Liberal Democratic Party (which is actually the conservative party, in spite of its name) which had been in power nearly continuously for 50 years.

A tropical storm (called a typhoon, even though it didn’t hit hurricane levels) came through and we experienced Ketchikan-like downpours (i.e., like sitting under a waterfall).

We went to Dad’s church where the regular pianist was away both weeks. Conveniently(?) I was available and was drafted to play.

After tonight, I will be on the road, in the air, and in airports for something like 40 hours before arriving home.