RIP Sue Nagura

Last week on Tuesday afternoon Ritsy's grandma- Ken and Mona's Great grandmother- passed away. I believe she was into her '90's so here in Japan they say 'oiwai' or celebration because she had a long life. I think the loss of anyone is unfortunate. I missed the wake as it was held very soon after I heard that she passed and I couldn't get out of my work. But I did attend a ceremony before they cremated her- if you watched the Japanese movie 'Departures' or okuribito- it reminded me of the movie. I had to clean her skin- it was my first time to touch a dead person. Then after they cremated her people pass some bones around using chopsticks. I also attended a funeral on Thursday where a monk chanted for about an hour and finally we said goodbye. That was a bit of challenge for Ken's patience, but he did as good a job as a 3 year old can do.

I never really knew her true character, though she was more lucid in my first visit and time spent in Tokyo. The last few years the medication really interfered with her memories it seemed(I say so as they took her off the meds for a bit and she remembered things a bit more clearly). I remember at one time she thought I was her son Kenji. The strongest memory of her was when we lived in Tokyo and visited, when Ritsy was saying goodbye to her, she started to cry as though she knew it may be the last time she lucidly saw her grandchild. I hope that where she is now, she is resting in peace.