Monday, November 14, 2005

On Japanese Newspapers and Beautiful Suicide, if that does ever exist...

I always keep up-to-date with Japanese news. Primarily from the websites of Asahi Shinbun, the second-biggest national newspaper (some articles available in English) and Nikkan Sports (Japanese only--a popular sports paper).

Japanese newspapers, if you ever see the real one, is a work of art--all the articles fit neatly in its page (never "Continues on page 5") , headlines run horizontally and vertically, even the smallest spaces left are filled with miniscule adverts of Yakult or medicine.

On Radio program schedule, you see that all the names of the programmes are shortened so severely, that you have no idea what it is. (So that everything can be crammed into a space of 8 by 14 -20 centimeters)

Of course, also the content--the news, differs in the way it's told and the nature of it.
For example, these days I see lots of articles about school teachers sexually harassing his students, or having sexual relationship with students or having sex with underaged girls who sell their body for a quick cash. I don't think I ever heard a similar story on Dutch news, or English news.
There might be an article next to it about an old man who got attacked by a bear, when picking some mushrooms in a forest, that he fought the beast off by clinging to the bear's neck (real, but old story).
Some are told in a typical matter-of-fact way ("a house gutted by fire"----the owner, Mr ### is missing, a body was found and police suspects that it is Mr ###.) like, duh....

The others are just plain bizarre, or emotional, or both.
A story on Asahi website last week, was exactly that.

A policeman came across an empty car with the engine running, parked outside a disused crematory, with classical music playing loudly on the stereo. Inside the car, 5 or so receipts from petrol stations, and on the back, what seems to be a logbook of the last day of a man and his wife.

The same afternoon the police found 2 skeletons lying side by side in the incinerator, still warm.
The man, an 80-year old, had been caring his wife (82), who had dementia for the last few years. Recently his health has also deteriorated, and he had decided to put his plan into action. A night before the fateful day, he sent his will which was made a year ago to the city hall, donating all his possessions, including their sizable land.

The note tells a short but powerful tale;

"4:30 pm My wife is waiting in the car."
"8pm Leave the house with my wife."
They drove around their favorite places and houses of their brother and sister, slowly making way.
"She waits without saying a word."
"At 12:45am I will set fire. Good-bye."

I couldn't help thinking that this was the most beautiful suicide I've ever heard (In a surreal way---just the thought of classical music in the pitch dark and the fire made me stifle with all sorts of emotions).
I am totally against suicide but this man..... his love for his wife, and to do it in the way he did, at his age is.....I don't know what word I should be using here--morbid on the one side, yes, but the whole orchestration and the almost religious-feel to this man's last act somehow makes me think that he actually did really appreciate his life, and that he wished no more pain, and the most fitting way that he could come up with, 'just happened to be', this whole thing, perhaps.

So many articles, so many deaths and accidents, but this one I don't think it's easy to forget.

Sorry for the 2 sort of "heavy" posts in a row---I've been busy and this was the first thing that came in my head so that's why---next time will be something totally different, I hope!

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