I drove to Sapporo with Ayako in the rain to see our own tomb just completed.

It has been raining since last night.But we had to go to see our own tomb which had just been completed in the Barato Cemetery in the suburbs of Sapporo.We left home at 9:30 by car in the heavy rain. We went first to our older daughter Haruna's house,and just after we had arrived there,our younger daughter Chiaki arrived by car with her little son Arashi. We spent about an hour or so to wait for the time appointed by the cemetery. Then Haruna drove us in my car to Barato. It took only about 15 minutes.
It was still raining in the cemetery,and in addition,the wind was blowing hard. After making sure of the location of our tomb at the office,we went out to see it.There,in the flat land,were a lot of tombs,big or little,in rows.Ours was a little square stone tomb on which was graven the words "Thank You" in English, which we had ordered.When we ordered,I wondered what words we should ask to engrave on the stone,I proposed to Ayako to choose the words meaning our thanks to all the people we have had contact with. In Japanese,or in English? - that was Haruna's choice,- "in English", because I used to be an English teacher,and even after retirement,I have always been doing something in English. A Buddhist monk came with a big umbrella,and performed a ritual for about ten minutes chanting something we didn't understand.