Katsuya Yamashita RIP

We are saddened by the passing away of Katsuya Yamashita on August 14, 2019. He was 81. Originally from Kyushu, he moved with his wife to Nagoya and started his family life with a daughter and a son. Mr. Yamashita was my father-in-law and we had many common interests including motorcycles (he rode a Harley!), jazz music (he had a killer reel-to-reel player as well as a huge collection of LPs), photography and baseball (and I forgive him for being a Giants fan). I very much regret not being able to share these activities with him as he was severely injured in a motorcycle accident over 20 years ago leaving him paralyzed below the waist, bedridden and in need of an almost constant caretaker. His wife served in this capacity for over 15 years while still working full time (this is the kind of Japanese superwoman we don't hear about enough in the media and academia). I wish I could have known him better. Ride your Harley to heaven on the big typhoon and rest in peace.

Related note: I was surprised that the funeral industry in Japan is so professional - and by this I mean cold. On the very afternoon he passed, his nursing home called his grieving wife and asked to remove his items from his room. The wake and funeral were held in a large funeral home chain - very basic. The funeral home staff approached my wife 15 minutes before the funeral and asked her to fill out a form regarding her co-payment of the funeral. There was no personal eulogy but rather a taped speech by a woman with very polite comments about how we would all miss the deceased backed by sad background music. Immediately after the funeral the body was cremated. It is customary for the family members to place the deceased's bones into an urn. As the burner was still hot a staff member removed the bones first, commenting what part of the body they were from, size and quality. My wife found this very offensive. When we were done with the bones we were handed the urn, the deceased's portrait and a small statues with his name and promptly ushered outside. I guess we were done. Yes, funerals are big business in Japan...