Okuribito

Departures, (2008) dir Yôjirô Takita

Departures, or “Okuribito” is an unexpectedly funny film about a morbid job. Japan, with it’s many, many rituals and ceremonies, has a really odd one: the preparation of a corpse for cremation — in front of the family. Hilarious, right? It’s not a comedy, it’s a very sweet film and how a cellist finds himself preparing people for departures.

Graffiti in Japan is rare —  I found Japan to be fanatically clean, but saw this in Tokyo and reminds me of much of the graffiti in SF’s Mission. This was the only real graffiti I saw in Japan.
This depicts Japan prime minister, Taro Aso, and the english translation is ”Welcome to the land of no common sense.” If you squint, he kinda looks like George Bush. (doomo arigato Karlton)