More than nine months later and your tombstone still isn't erected my dear. Tell me where to sign up to get into this lucrative funeral business because they get paid so much to sit around and dilly dally. It feels like they've been pigeonholing us from the get-go. They mean to tell us after all this time, they still have nothing to show for it? The funeral industry sells so much bullshit since they know they can squeeze every dime from a grieving family. They have us at our most vulnerable state. "Wouldn't you want to honor and memorialize the life of your loved one? To make them feel valued and irreplaceable? Money should not be an object." What a bunch of crock that they feed to us. Nothing says I love you more than a custom oak-veneer coffin and polished granite tombstone--I get that. Oh, the cost? Just give us the deed to your house. Why not ingrain some diamonds into the gravestone while you're at it? If you're going to woo us into buying all your high-end products, then at least make good on your promise and DELIVER! This is why I want to be cremated when I die. I won't need my body where I'll be going, and I sure as hell don't want these bastards stealing money from my family. I even heard the company we're dealing with is under investigation for the improper storage of bodies. How is this company still operating? We entrusted you with our beloved ones. This is hard enough as it is for the families in mourning. Can't we receive some assurance that we're getting what we paid for, and that it is done procedurally and ethically? I'd like to give this company a funeral. Hopefully, your tombstone will be ready in time for September 18th.
I'm in Tokyo now. I've been here for the past two weeks. Talk about culture shock. It's everything I imagined it would be. The people here are very nice and approachable. I got lost the first day, and an elderly woman went out of her way to help me find my apartment. She helped me with my luggage, made phone calls, and even brought me to a police station to get directions. You would never see this anywhere else. The level of generosity and respect the Japanese have for one another is unbelievable. You would've loved working here--no more ungrateful and disrespectful patients. The food here is amazing. You would think prices are very high, but it's all a matter of preference and sensible spending. Cost of living here isn't so bad. It may seem so to the gaijin who comes here and spends/calculates in US dollars, but if you were getting paid in Yen, it's actually reasonable. The only negative experience I've had so far is the language barrier. Although I've been studying Japanese for three months now, the speed at which they converse is beyond my skill level. You won't find many signs translated in English either, and knowing just Hiragana is useless in a culture that uses Hiragana, Katakana, and Kanji in everyday writing. So where this becomes a problem is when I get sick with a chest and ear infection that impedes my breathing and hearing. I don't have access to doctors or antibiotics as I would back in the States. Even the most common OTC drugs aren't readily available here. I can't even find a pho restaurant to save my own life. I do miss the simple things. I do miss home. I miss my friends and family. I miss you. All this traveling.. all this soul-searching.. I know it's only a phase.. an interlude. I will return one day. Maybe not as the person I once was, but a renewed self... someone who has hope for the future--hope for a world so enamored with greed and destruction. Maybe one day when we lose it all, we'll learn to love and respect one another. We will learn to appreciate the things we do have, and not fret over the things we don't. Like what Bono said, "what you don't have, you don't need it now."
