English/anglais/Englisch/英語版１
Monday 15th April 2013
Dear Norman,
Sorry, it is no good news this time.
My father Hiroshi Harada (b.1939) passed away on Monday at 7.33am Japan Standard Time in a large modern hospital, not too far from Tokyo Haneda Airport (HND). He was 73 years and 4 months old. There'll be a wake service on Thursday 18th.
He had undergone a major surgical operation on Monday last (April 8th) and got all the bladder removed owing to a rare disease called "amyloidosis" in the bladder, the patients of which have been counted only about 30 in entire Japan so far (and Japan's population is twice as large as that of the UK).
The disease used to interrupt his sleep about 7 times during the night when he was at home because the symptom forced him to go to the loo so often. The family members proposed a solution to nappies and he DID use disposable nappies, but the disease tormented him in his sleep so much that he decided to get the bladder removed altogether once and for all and that replaced by an artificial one.
My father had been in the hospital for the past 10 days and was gradually in the rehabilitation process after the operation though continually bed-ridden. We were discussing his forthcoming application for a "Level 3 disabled ID" with benefits, but the phone call from the hospital at 3 in the morning gave us an ominous alarm.
When we got there in a car driven by my sister, who drove rather dangerously and took wrong turns in the darkness, it was already 5.15am. But we were able to see his last stand, his last voiceless fight for life for about two hours. The scene was exactly like that in a typical hospital drama and I still find it more like a dream than a drama. We the bereaved family are still emotionally quite unsettled because we weren't yet really "prepared" for the suddenness of events.
The immediate cause of death was still in the dark, and we gave consent to the hospital to perform a pathological (not forensic) post-mortem later Monday. My father light-heartedly had told me that he'd be willing to offer his body for the progress of medicine, so I had no qualm.
The immediate cause of death was later detected as blood poisoning caused by ileus (or intestinal obstruction).
As ever,
Toshiaki
English/anglais/Englisch/英語版２
Wednesday 8th May 2013
Dear Norman,
If my memory serves me right, today marks your 83rd birthday. May you live in longevity just like your Queen (or Queen Mother or Prince Philip for that matter)!
Looking on the not so bright side of life, I can't avoid mentioning my recent shock in passing at my father's passing away, let alone your kind words that consoled me much. I must correct one small bit, however:
>I specially remember his telling me that when the Americans arrived in 1945 he tasted grape juice for the first time! It is the sort of personal detail that brings history to life.
He talked about that bitter sweet grapefruit juice from either California or Florida, NOT grape juice. Grapes do grow even here in Saitama Prefecture and we used to have a grape tree in our garden though the quality was quite horrible.
Today happens to be sort of Day One of school to me after a 10-day consecutive break. This sort of thing in late spring occurred for the first time in my professional life and has nothing to do with the mourning for the dead family member. Japan's Golden Week from April 29th to May 5th usually has a "big hole" from April 30th to May 2nd because those three days are just another working days in the public calendar. But this year by mere coincidence, I was entitled to take those days and even April 28th, May 6th and 7th off in accordance with my work shift and the school calendar. The bitter sweet thing is that a break didn't necessarily mean a break. I had to sort out the inheritance matter involving the local government in Saitama, several high street banks and securities firms, small debts left by my late father to credit card and mobile phone companies, the tending of small car parks also left by my father and those still kept by my mother, and lastly quite tiring "gardening" work, which culminated in the cutting down (yet in the process) of quite a tall and thick (if not sick) tree with red and green leaves (I don't know the name of it, but it probably belongs to the laurel family).
Weatherwise, it's been the coldest May in record in many parts of Japan. Tokyo had only 10 degrees Celsius yesterday with cold wind but it's 20 degrees today. In a remote part of Hokkaido in the north it snowed and snowed with the temperature hardly reaching 1 degree. Sheer madness of the weather.
In this wicked world Koreans (both North and South) are increasingly hostile to us, and we turn vice versa, which is hardly surprising. China's move is ironically similar to that of militarist Japan in the 1930s: the central government tries to contain reckless ambition of their military factions, who in turn try to provoke a war with a militarily big neighbour, this time Japan. I find some of the Chinese Navy officers extremely dangerous in that they really long for a major sea battle with Japan after 120 years. The Chinese are very much keen on anniversaries in general (even more so than the Westerners) and according to the Chinese zodiac, the 120th anniversary is much more important than a mere centenary: that's why I regard 2014 as the most dangerous year for the Sino-Japanese rift.
Sorry for the gloomy tone once again.
Keeping calm and carrying on,
Toshiaki
English/anglais/Englisch/英語版３
Wednesday 22nd May 2013
Dear Norman,
Not so good news. I won't be able to visit the UK this summer though I can set foot on Germany again very briefly in early August.
We the Haradas finished the first part of the funeral in mid April with a total of some 200 people attending the service. Father's body was promptly cremated but we still keep the charred bones for the second part of the funeral with the burial of the bones, which will be held in the graveyard on Sunday 2nd June and will involve only 7 closest relatives.
Mid August (13th to 15th) is another important time in the Japanese religious calendar especially in the case where some family member died less than a year ago. As the eldest son, I've got to be there despite my firm belief in atheism. I booked a one-way Lufthansa flight to Frankfurt (actually it's the return part of my round-trip flights I commenced in March) for August 6th several months ago, and it is obvious that I'll have to book a return flight to Japan for August 11th or 12th at the latest some time soon.
So in this case, I won't be able to see you in merrie olde England. Having said that, I'm actually thinking about my plans beyond mid August to somewhere distant: Vietnam, Laos, Nepal, Sri Lanka, Namibia (in Africa), Cuba, Martinique (held by the French), Cartagena de Indias (Colombia)... I've been borrowing so many guidebooks from the local municipal library near my home and my mind is filled with yet unrealised, imaginary foreign travels. Wanderlust is a sort of incurable disease, which you and I have no wish to get rid of.
Toshiaki
writing from hot Tokyo
English/anglais/Englisch/英語版４
Friday 24th May 2013
Yes, Norman, as you say, protracted is the word suitably applied to the Japanese funeral tradition.
The majority of the Japanese families follow the Mahayana ("Great Vehicle") Buddhist tradition. For them, the 49th day (7 weeks), the 7th year (or the 6th anniversary, to put it in a Western way), the 13th year (12th anniversary) and even the 33rd year (32nd anniversary) memorial services for the dead are very important. They can be quite costly too, but in the Eastern tradition death is more revered than birth.
Before Japan's defeat in 1945, the only birthdays ever celebrated were 1) that of the Emperor's and 2) New Year's Day for everybody else. In pre-war Japan people gained one more year on January 1st, so a baby born on December 31st would be one year old the next day! Because January 1st was THE birthday for everyone except the Emperor, people made merry on New Year's Day with a generous flow of saké. In Taiwan, there was no notion of zero, so a new born baby was one year old already and on the first New Year's Day he/she would be 2 years old.
Before the Restoration in 1868, even the Emperor didn't have his birthday celebrated, nor did the Shogun. For the Japanese, birthday meant nothing, but certain anniversaries of death were extremely important. The notion of the Emperor's birthday was actually an idea imported from the West.
The Haradas belong to a powerful minority of Shinto or Shintoism, that is to say, we share the same religion with the Imperial family. In Shinto the anniversary numbers are slightly different from those for Buddhists: 50th day, 10th year, 15th year and 30th year are important. According to my father's will, he wants to call it a day at 10th year. Fair enough.
Besides, there are smaller memorial dates every year for religiously lay, related people, with no professional priests involved. The most important is mid August, from 13th to 15th (inclusive), as I mentioned in my previous correspondence, but in certain parts of Japan including Tokyo, it occurs in mid July instead of August. The second important are Vernal and Autumnal Equinoxes. I've been avoiding these occasions by flying abroad, but now that my father's dead and because I'm the eldest son who's supposed to deal with religious matters, it will obviously get more and more difficult for me to escape these occasions. Midlife and responsibility ("not my cup of tea" sort of things, though) are here to stay.
Toshiaki
English/anglais/Englisch/英語版５
Saturday 25th May 2013
Just a quickie to satisfy your curiosity a bit, Norman.
Yes, Japan used the lunar calendar until fairly recently. The shift to the solar calendar occurred at midnight between December 2nd of the 5th year of Emperor Meiji's reign and the following day, which should have otherwise been December 3rd of the same year but instead became January 1st of the 6th year of Meiji, which was 1873. So New Year's Day 1873 was the day when Japan was incorporated into the Western time sphere. New Year's Day as everybody's birthday, on the other hand, had been a centuries-old tradition, which certainly occurred in the days of the lunar calendar.
Your observation of Indian culture is interesting to me. Yes, depersonalisation is rampant in Japanese culture too. Even younger Japanese people today still think much of the Coming of Age ceremony held at municipal halls throughout Japan on the second Monday of January, which is a bank holiday (until 2000, January 15th was always a bank holiday). It's just a secular, congregational and even totalitarian birthday celebration for all the 20-year-olds. People, especially girls, wear fancy expensive kimono and enjoy school reunions and a flow of alcohol drinks.
Our affiliate in Boston, USA used to have a hard time when some of the Japanese girls refused to attend classes in mid January and ignore the warning of the staff by flying back to Japan just to attend the wretched municipal ceremony. When I visited Boston for the first time some 9 years ago, the staff discussed it during the lunchtime in the cafeteria. I casually explained to them that this would-be "tradition" of Coming of Age ceremony only started in 1946 in a small municipality called Warabi (pronounced like Wallaby, though) near Tokyo, in fact near my home in Saitama Prefecture. The first ceremony took place in November 1946, fifteen months after Japan's surrender to the Allies. Young people were literally hungry in those days and they were glad that the city hall offered free food and drink. The central government in Tokyo liked the idea so much that they stole it in 1948 but somehow made January 15th the day for Coming of Age. The Boston staff were perplexed about this short and shallow history, having assumed that the tradition was ancient. Then a few years later, they had a brilliant solution by holding their own party in a fancy hotel in Boston town and inviting their wealthy Japanese parents from back home. Few girls ever dared to defy the school code by flying home to Japan in January since then.
I heard Thais are different about their birthdays in that they put particular emphasis on which day of the week one was born. I was born on a Saturday and they'll certainly tell me all the nonsense about a "Saturday person" according to their horoscope.
Well, so much about life and death and our collective ceremonies and celebrations.
Toshiaki
cf.（参考）
English/anglais/Englisch/英語版６
Upon hearing the death of the wife of the recipient
Après avoir entendu la mort de l'épouse du destinataire
Nach Anhörung des Todes der Ehefrau des Empfängers
メール受取人の奥方の訃報に寄せて
Subject: Re: sad news
Date: Thursday 3rd October 2002, 11:47am
From: "HARADA Toshiaki"
Dear Norman,
I've just read your message and am struck by the cruel outcome that came so early.
I express my sincerest condolences. I remember Jean as a crossword puzzle maniac, excellent tour guide (to me at least) and last but not least, expert on classical music. I still remember some of the conversations we had in the heat or in the rain of the English summers. A loss indeed.
Toshiaki
Français court / short French / Französisch kurz / フランス語版１（短文）
Mercredi, le 17 Avril 2013
Père est mort. La veillée funèbre demain. ---TH
Français/French/Französisch/フランス語版２（長文）
Jeudi, le 18 Avril 2013
Salut Alain!
Désolé, il n'y a pas de bonnes nouvelles pour le moment.
Mon père Hiroshi HARADA (né en 1939) est décédé lundi à 07h33 JST (l'Heure normale du Japon) dans un grand hôpital moderne, pas trop loin de l'aéroport de Tokyo Hanéda (HND). Il avait 73 ans et 4 mois. La veillée funèbre aura lieu jeudi.
Il avait subi une opération chirurgicale majeure lundi dernier (8e Avril) et a obtenu tous la vessie retirée en raison d'une maladie rare, qui s'appelle «l'amylose» ou «l'amyloïdose» dans la vessie, dont les patients ont été comptés seulement environ 30 au Japon entier à ce jour (et le Japon a la population de la taille de celle de la France et du Royaume-Uni ensemble).
La maladie a permis d'interrompre son sommeil d'environ 7 fois pendant la nuit quand il était à la maison parce que le symptôme a forcé à aller aux toilettes si souvent. Les membres de la famille ont proposé une solution des couche-culotte et il a en fait utilisé des couches jetables, mais la maladie a lui tourmentée dans son sommeil tellement qu'il a décidé de faire de la vessie entièrement supprimée une fois pour toutes et que remplacée par une vessie artificielle.
Mon père avait été à l'hôpital pendant les dix jours et a été peu à peu dans le processus de réadaptation après l'opération malgré la condition constamment alitée. Nous parlions de sa prochaine demande d'une carte d'identité du «Niveau 3 handicapé» avec des avantages, mais le coup de téléphone de l'hôpital à 3 heures du matin nous a donné une alarme de sinistre présage.
Quand nous sommes arrivés dans une voiture conduite par ma sœur, qui a conduit plutôt dangereusement et a pris tourne mal dans l'obscurité, il était déjà 05h15. Mais nous avons pu voir son dernier combat, son dernier combat pour la vie sans voix pendant environ deux heures. La scène était exactement comme ça dans un drame de l'hôpital typique et je trouve encore plus comme un rêve d'un drame. Nous, la famille endeuillée, sommes émotionnellement très réglées parce que nous n'étions pas encore vraiment «préparée» pour la soudaineté des événements.
La cause immédiate du décès a été encore dans les ténèbres, et nous a donné la consentement à l'hôpital pour effectuer une autopsie pathologique (non judiciaire) plus tard lundi. Mon père allègrement m'avait dit qu'il serait disposé à offrir son corps pour le progrès de la médecine, donc je n'avais aucune scrupule.
La cause immédiate du décès a été détectée plus tard comme un empoisonnement du sang causé par l'iléus (ou la occlusion intestinale).
Bien à toi,
Toshi
Deutsch/German/allemand/ドイツ語版
den Mittwoch, 17. April 2013
Hallo Britta!
Leider gibt es keine gute Nachrichten diesmal.
Mein Vater Hiroshi Harada (geb.1939) ist am Montag um 7.33 Uhr JST (Japan Standard Time) in einem großen Krankenhaus gestorben, nicht allzu weitweg vom Flughafen Tokyo Haneda (HND). Er war 73 Jahre und 4 Monate alt. Donnerstagsabend halten wir die Totenwache.
Er hatte eine große chirurgische Operation am vergangenen Montag (8. April) untergezogen, in die all die Blase entfernt wurde, wegen einer seltenen Krankheit namens „Amyloidose“ in der Blase, dessen Patienten nur etwa 30 überall in Japan bisher gezählt haben (und die Bevölkerung Japans ist etwa 1,5-mal größer als die von Deutschland).
Als er zu Hause war, hat die Krankheit während seines Schlafs etwa 7 mal in der Nacht unterbrochen, weil das Symptom ihn in die Toilette so oft gezwungen hat. Die Familienmitglieder haben eine Lösung um Windeln vorgeschlagen, und er hat tatsächlich Wegwerfwindeln verwenden, aber die Krankheit quälte ihn in seinem Schlaf so sehr, daß er beschlossen hat, um überhaupt ein für alle Mal die Blase zu entfernen, und um mit einem künstlichen Ding die zu ersetzen.
Mein Vater war in dem Krankenhaus seit zehn Tagen und wurde nach und nach in der Rehabilitation nach der Operation gewesen, obwohl ständig bettlägerig. Wir sprachen über seine bevorstehenden Antrag für einen „Personalausweis Niveau-3-Behinderter“ mit Vorteilen, aber der Telefonanruf aus dem Krankenhaus auf 3 Uhr morgens am Montag hat uns eine ominöse Warnung gegeben.
Mit dem Auto, das meine Schwester eher gefährlich gefahren ist und Irrwege in der Dunkelheit genommen hat, sind wir im Krankenhaus angekommen. Es war bereits 5.15 Uhr. Wir waren in der Lage, den letzten Stand des Vaters, seinen letzten stummen Kampf für das Leben für etwa zwei Stunden zu sehen. Die Szene war genau wie in einem typischen Krankenhaus-Drama, und ich finde es immer noch mehr wie ein Traum als ein Drama. Wir, die Hinterbliebenen, sind noch immer emotional ziemlich verunsichert, weil wir noch nicht wirklich „bereit“ für die Plötzlichkeit der Ereignisse.
Die unmittelbare Todesursache war noch in der Dunkelheit, und wir haben Zustimmung ins Krankenhaus gegeben, um eine pathologische (nicht forensische) Autopsie später Montag durchzuführen. Mein Vater hatte mir gesagt leichtsinnig, daß er bereit sein, seinen Körper für den Fortschritt der Medizin bieten, so hatte ich keine Skrupel.
Der Autopsie nach, wurde die unmittelbare Todesursache als Blutvergiftung durch Darmverschluß ermittelt.
Dein
Toshiaki
日本語版/Japanese/japonais/Japanisch
〇〇先生
去る4月15日(月)未明、膀胱全摘手術のため大井町（品川の１駅先）に在る私営総合病院に入院していた父が突如意識不明になり、心臓蘇生の甲斐も空しく午前7時33分に亡くなりました。満73歳でした。
家族の者は、父の辛うじて寝たきりで生きている最期の２時間を目にすることができました。まるでテレビドラマの一場面に迷い込んだかのようでした。4月8日(月)の一日がかりの手術後の経過は良さそうに見え、本人も周囲も一旦は安堵していましたが、14日(日)夜に容態が急変し、僅か１週間の早さでの旅立ちでした。
死因を特定できない病院側の病理解剖の申し出を承諾し、かなり長い時間をかけて特定していただきました。直接の原因は腸閉塞による敗血症とのことでした。そして間接的な原因として難病指定の膀胱アミロイドーシス（日本で約30例のみ）が挙げられました。
今週は間の悪いことに複数公演の切符を買い込んでいました。15日(月)父が死んだ日の錦糸町のチケットは捨てました。18日(木)のサントリーと19日(金)の錦糸町の両日については北浦和に音楽に詳しいロータリー関係の人がいて、切符を引き取ってくれるというので、17日(水)夕刻に南浦和駅の改札で譲り渡しました。自分としてはお金がどうこうということよりも、チケットをみすみす捨てるのは忍びなく、空席を作ることは演奏者にも失礼で申し訳なく思うので、貰ってくれる人がいて嬉しい限りでした。
何ともトホホな話ですが、そもそも演奏会の愉しみを教えてくれたのが亡父だっただけに、致し方なしと割り切るしかなさそうです。14日(日)は上野の文化会館の平土間でバレエを観た帰り、1970年代の小学生時代に父によく連れられた、あのどうしようもない五階席を遠く眺め、或いは睨み、いつになく感傷的な気分になりました（その時点ではまだ病床で父の意識はあったというのに、、、）。
その後が問題でした。日曜の午後５時ぐらいに上野の森の空気を吸ったとき、周囲はまだ明るかったにもかかわらず、大井町の病院に父を見舞うという考えが愚かにも浮かびませんでした。母と妹はその日入れ替わり見舞いに行ったとのことでした。しかし私は術後のリハビリを兼ねた入院は１ヶ月間と予め組まれていたこともあり、別の日に行こうと決めてしまったのです。そしておのぼりさん気分で都心部の近代建築の写真や動画を撮ったり飲み歩くなどしてカネと時間を浪費していました。後で聞いた妹の話では午後６時ぐらいから父が苦しみ出したとのことでした。妹は面会時間の制限いっぱいの午後７時半まで居たそうです。後になってそのことが気持ちに重く伸し掛かり、胸の痞えとなり、食事もまともに喉を通らず、酒もマズくて意気が上がらない状態が本日（金曜）午後まで続きました。
しかし昨日（木曜）神式通夜祭を、本日（金曜）葬場祭と火葬祭と帰家祭兼十日祭を無事に済ますことができました。両日は名ばかり喪主の母に代わり、葬儀社との打ち合わせや各種現金の支払いや会葬者への御挨拶などで気が休まりませんでした。父は遺骨となって我が家に帰って来ました。あとは五十日祭の納骨まで家に居てもらいます。
暫く忌引きで仕事を休んでいましたが、明日（土曜）は午前中の授業「イギリス文化論」を１コマだけこなして不完全ながら職場復帰を果たそうと考えております。忌引きとは云え、いつまでも私が仕事を休むのは亡父の望むところではないでしょうから。しかし午後のロータリー財団の司会進行役は、到底気分が乗りそうもなく、ご迷惑とは思いつつも既にキャンセルしました。心の傷を癒すには、どうやら更なる時間の経過を要するようです。
原田俊明