The Big Sleep in Japan Part 2

The main reason of this visit was seeing my almost 98-year-old grandma. Nothing is wrong with her yet but it is inevitable for her to be getting frail.

今回の帰省の一番の理由は、もうすぐ98歳になる祖母に会うことだった。どこが悪いというわけではないが、衰えていくのは仕方がない。

The 7^th memorial of the death of my favorite film director Kihachi Okamoto was during my visit. So I went to Ikebukuro to see his films and immensely enjoyed them. I decided to visit his grave near my parents’ place. And near the same cemetery, I found a "cat street" on the way to the Toshiro Mifune’s grave. In no time, two friendly cats with attitude showed up.
私の一番好きな映画監督である岡本喜八の七回忌も、帰省と重なった。池袋で喜八特集を見て大いに楽しんだ後、実家の近くにある彼の墓参りをした。同じ墓地にある三船敏郎の墓に行く途中、いかにも猫道な狭い路地を通った。すぐに二匹が現れ、親しみと好奇心、威厳を同時に示した。

More incidents made me think about life and death: my grandma’s mind occasionally experiencing a fine line between the past and present, the 100th anniversary of Taro Okamoto’s birth, my aunt giving me the watch of her recently late daughter (my cousin), etc...   Although these experiences are not exactly happy, I wasn’t depressed either. Somehow, I accepted that life is a part of death and vice-versa.
祖母が時折、過去と現在の微妙な線上にいることや、岡本太郎の生誕100周年、最近亡くなった従姉の形見分けなど、生と死を考えさせる出来事が続いた。うれしいことではないが、落ち込みもしなかった。生は死の一部で、死は生の一部であることを受け入れられるようになってきたのかもしれない。

Later my mom and I went to the Ghibli Museum in Mitaka.

I was very jealous of the little kids who were able to get on the Neko (cat) Bus from "My Neighbor Totoro".

母とジブリ美術館へ。ネコバスに乗れる小さな子供たちがうらやましい！！

 
Then we went to a Neko Cafe near the museum. A Neko Cafe is one of the new trends in Japan; a cafe with several free roaming (or sleeping) cats, and customers pet and play with them. I had been a little worried that it could’ve been abusive for the cats. As far as I saw, cats are masters here like anywhere else.
美術館近くの猫カフェへ。動物虐待を心配していたが、私の見た限りでは、猫たちは他の場所と同じように自由で、人間を従えていた。