Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

This is not fanfiction— this is compiled research that I’ve done on Japanese processes and customs that deal with death. I want to cover as much as I can from hospital procedures to funeral rituals to ghosts. There are a good amount of fanfics and fanart in the English-speaking part of the Osomatsu-san fandom that involve killing off a matsu or two. Many of them include Western (Christian) customs, because that’s what the authors’ are accustomed to, but we have to remember that the characters you’re writing for are Japanese. I would love it if all the research I plan to type up could be used to expedite any research writers in the fandom were planning to do and maybe help others understand aspects of the Japanese fandom’s fanart and videos that include death. If someone finds this helpful, I’ll be extremely happy! Feel free to ask for sources and leave comments.

Here's my layout:
CH 0 - Intro
CH 1 - Suicide & Depression
CH 2 - Accidental Death & Hospitalization
CH 3 - Notification of Death & Crime
CH 4 - Funerals
CH 5 - Grieving
CH 6 - Shrines
CH 7- Obon & The Afterlife

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• For a developed country, Japan has an unusually high suicide rate. A popular statistic is 2014’s average of 70 suicides per day. However, it’s important to note that the suicide rate has been declining in the past few years.
• The vast majority of Japan’s suicides are male, with most stemming from work/debt-related stress and societal pressure. Since it doesn’t apply to our jobless NEETs, I won’t dig into Japan’s work culture, but I will say that it differs greatly from America’s (and I’d assume the same for other Western countries). I will dig into depression, which almost 200 works have tagged here on ao3.
• Some statistics show that 30% - 50% of suicides in the last decade have been caused by depression.
• Depression and other mental illnesses in Japan have a large stigma around them and are usually seen as a private matter (blame collectivism?). Some people are blamed for developing the mental illness or accused of faking for attention or days off work and school. In 2002, ⅔ of people with a mental illness said they didn’t seek help to avoid being stigmatized.
• In a 2005 survey, over half the participants agreed that psychotherapy is a good way to treat mental illnesses, as opposed to medicine. Nowadays, with depression getting some recognition, antidepressants are your go-to treatment after getting diagnosed. For many people, that is their only treatment.
• Psychiatrists are very expensive, so not many Japanese citizens have the money to regularly visit them. One website I went to for a company that offers counseling in Tokyo had fees starting from $100 - $200 for an individual 50 minute session. None of these fees are covered by Japan’s National Health Insurance, which is in place for those who don’t receive employee insurance.

Back to the actual act of suicide:

• If you’re writing fanfiction with grade-school aged matsus, you should know that bullying is the #1 cause of suicide in Japanese youth. The extreme bullying and classwide shunning that you see in J-dramas or movies, actually happens. Last year, reported cases of bullying reached an all-time high. The Japanese education system, especially its entrance exam system, lead to a number of stress-induced suicides. Colleges entrance exams take place once a year in the spring. I’m sure you can imagine the amount of stress you’d be in if you only had one shot to determine what your alma mater would be. Acceptance into competitive or private primary and secondary schools also require one-time entrance exams.
• The Japanese school year is split into trimesters from April - July, September - December, and January - March. One date to note is September 1st, the first day of the second trimester. After spending summer vacation away from bullies, many students turn to suicide rather than returning to school, making Sep. 1st the “deadliest day for Japan’s youth”.
• For the past 30 years, hanging has made up at least half of the suicides committed in Japan for both men and women. Suffocation (I’m assuming carbon monoxide or helium poisoning, since the source says “gas”) and jumping are the second and third, at a much lower rate.
• Guns laws are extremely strict in Japan and it can take years to get one, so they’re not prevalent in suicides or crimes. The relatively recent acts of domestic terrorism were committed with a knife and chemical weapons.
• Taking your shoes off before jumping seems to be prevalent, but I’m not so sure if people do so before hanging themselves.

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• First things first: cars! Not too many people in the city own cars since most of the working population takes the train or bus. Biking is also pretty popular.
• All cars are expensive, but in Japan you also have to pay taxes for vehicles. There’s two taxes when you first purchase your car, a tax that comes with each inspection, and a yearly tax paid every April. Driving school can cost over $3,000 and the fee for your actual license is around $2,000. Needless to say, many citizens find owning cars a pain in the ass.
• That being said, most people on the road in Japan are pretty good at driving. Karamatsu might be hard-pressed to find himself hit by a negligent driver. In 2016, 3,904 people (out of 120 million) were killed in a motor vehicle accident in Japan.
• Drunk driving isn’t too much of a problem either. In 2007, new laws were passed that could land someone in jail for 3-5 years if they were caught driving with a blood-alcohol level of 0.03% (that’s 0.05% lower than what’s illegal in America). That’s about one bottle of beer. If you’re not jailed, you’ll be fined (around $100) and almost certainly fired from your company. Most citizens that like to drink after work take public transportation or walk home, leading to some interesting pictures on the internet.
• Choking is the most prevalent cause of accidental death in Japan. Falls, drowning, and traffic accidents trail behind in frequency. (But Japan’s main problem with drownings are elderly people who may fall faint in the hot water or slip and drown in the bathtub.) 
• Alright, on to hospitals! When you need the ER or really aren’t feeling well, you go to the hospital. When you need specific care or a general check-up, you go to a clinic (there are clinics for things like ophthalmology, dermatology, etc.). Unfortunately, most clinics are closed on Sunday (not for inpatients of course) and even hospitals close during New Years, which is by far the most important holiday in Japan.
• Clinics are owned by doctors who are kind of in control of everything. Whatever the doctors says goes and patients usually don’t question it. A point of contention is doctors not telling/lying to patients about their health. If Karamatsu received some bad test results, was on his deathbed, or steadily declining, the doctor would only give the bad news to his family. Afterwards, the family is left to decide whether he should know. The idea is that the doctors don't want patients giving up and losing the will to live.
• While we’re at it—  seeking a second opinion isn’t very popular and it’s not covered under insurance, which I’ll get to in a bit.
• Silverware is not provided during your stay at the hospital! You also have to bring your own toiletries, soap, shampoo, towels, etc. The hospital only provides you with clothes, medicine, and food. Thankfully, they also give a list of items patients are recommended to bring, or rather, what they won’t provide.
• Most hospitals put patients in one room with 3-4 beds that are separated by curtains. The rooms can have small TVs, a mini-fridge, a closet, and/or a cabinet. You may or may not have to pay a fee to use the TV (around $5 - $10) Private rooms are available, but you’ll be charged a pretty penny for your stay.
• Many hospitals prohibit cell phone use in patient rooms, but have designated areas around the hospital where you can use them.
• Both clinics and hospitals can provide long term care. Usually, it comes down to what’s wrong with you when determining whether you should stay at a specialized clinic or a hospital.
• Last chapter, I mentioned the National Health Insurance (NHI) that doesn’t cover fees for antidepressants or psychiatrists. The very same insurance covers 70% of your fees for your stay, tests, and any procedures you might undergo while you’re hospitalized (including the big stuff, like surgery or chemo). The other 30% is billed to the patient. If your income is at a certain level, you might only be asked to pay for 20% or 10% of your fees and the insurance will cover the rest. Insurance is mandatory in Japan and if you’re not working, you’re most likely covered under NHI. One woman (with EHI, the insurance for employed citizens) had a 5-day hospital stay that included a surgical procedure and walked away with a $900 bill. In my state, getting the ambulance to take you to the hospital costs a good $450 - $500. So, I don’t think Japan’s universal health care is anything to scoff at? 
• Most hospice care in Japan is performed at the hospital, but there’s a growing amount becoming available in clinics and at home. Most rooms have multiple patients, just like the regular hospital rooms. Patients with terminal AIDS and cancer can receive hospice care at the hospital. Any other patients are given the option of clinical hospice or care at home. Hospital care costs around $380 per day and home care costs around $90 per day (70% - 90% this is still covered by insurance). A daycare style hospice is also available where you drop the patient off and pick them up later. With daycare service, patients with insurance pay about $3 an hour.  There’s no life expectancy limit or a limit on the number of days you can spend in hospice.
• A teeny, tiny note on cancer: cancer is the #1 cause of death in Japan. 1 out of 3 people die of cancer every year and it’s starting to edge close to 1 out of 4. This rising number can be attributed to Japan’s aging population—  ⅓ of the pop. is over 60 years old. The high number of cancer patients is one of the reasons why they are offered hospice care at the hospital, as opposed to someone with something like kidney disease or late Alzheimer's.  

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• So, you’ve killed Karamatsu—  now what? For deaths of natural causes, a doctor fills out a Death Certificate and signs off on the Notification of Death. Family members have 7 days to take these two documents to a nearby municipality office where they’re added to the Family Registry (which is updated for births, adoptions, deaths, marriages, and divorces).
• Here’s where things get interesting. If Karamatsu committed suicide or was murdered, the police are going to be called to come get his body. Do you think he’ll have an autopsy? Probably not. In 2011, the National Police Agency (NPA) and the government created a five year plan to get the autopsy rate from 11% to 20% and as of 2014, the rate saw a 0.7% increase.
• Autopsies in Japan are so infrequent for multiple reasons, but understaffing and culture play the biggest roles. First, if someone committed suicide, it’s felt like an autopsy isn’t needed. It’s a suicide. Why would one want to dig into the specific method they used to kill themselves? Unfortunately, this has led to assumed suicides being discovered as murders years later.   
• When an autopsy is requested after a death due to illness, some families and doctors feel like it incites suspicion that a medical error was made. Like I said last chapter, doctors are highly revered. Unless someone feels very strongly that something went wrong, no-one’s going to try to blame the doctor.
• Many families don’t want bodies to be damaged by autopsies or fear that going through an autopsy is like adding injury to insult to the dead patient who may have already suffered during their last moments.
• Out of 47 prefectures, 20 have someone who can perform an autopsy. And even though these doctors get funding from the government, it’s not enough. There are simply too many bodies and too little staff. Because of this, many homicides go unnoticed.
• A short in-between note: owning a pocket knife is legal, but carrying one over 6 centimeters is illegal and it seems like the government is about to crack down on possession of knives in general. In 2008, a man killed 7 people in Akihabara after running over 3 and stabbing 4 with a dagger. This past July, a former employee broke into a facility for the mentally and physically disabled with a bag of knives and killed 19 patients while they slept.   
• Japan boasts a low crime rate, especially violent crime (besides the few and far in-between domestic terrorists). By far, burglary and car theft are more common than assault, homicide, rape, and robbery. Unfortunately, the image of “Safe Japan” might be bolstered by the thousands of unreported and under-investigated crimes that occur every year.
• On a lighter(?) note: bicycle theft is a problem in Japan. I find it funny that in a year, over 305,000 bikes were reported stolen. A lot of the owners didn’t put a lock on their bicycle in the first place! And even those who did get their locks cut off! Have you ever watched an anime and there’s a scene where a character gets their umbrella stolen, so they take someone else’s umbrella? Students in Japan also do this with bicycles. If you’re thinking “what the fuck”, I am too!
• If a murder does take place, the case is handed over to the criminal investigation division where a detective and an investigation team are assigned to the case. The immediate family of the deceased may meet with the detective to get updates on the case and/or be asked for clues, etc.
• The Japanese justice system abides by “guilty until proven innocent”. One can be taken in for questioning for up to 23 days and bail isn’t really a thing (your chances of getting it are very, very low). During interrogation, stating your innocence leads to aggressive cops and “proof” that you lack remorse, which can, and will, be used against you during your trial. I won’t go into too much more, but if you have a character who committed a crime, feel free to have them confess pretty quickly. Even those who are innocent will plead guilty to avoid weeks of sleep deprivation, disorienting interrogation, and psychological abuse. Makes life easier.
• Japan has trials with no jury system and boasts a conviction rate of 99.7%...I wonder why?
• Capital punishment is usually given to murderers who have killed multiple people and Japan’s preferred method is hanging.
• Japan’s Juvenile Law. Is. Terrible. Basically, if someone commits a crime (whether it be petty theft or murder) and they’re ages 4 - 14, their name won’t be released to the public and they can’t be given a criminal punishment. Children ages 12 and up can be sent to juvie and teenagers ages 15 - 17 can be sentenced to a maximum of 15 - 20 years in prison. If you'd like some (extreme) examples of how awful the juvenile law can get, I recommend watching the 2010 film Kokuhaku or reading up on Sakakibara Seito.  
• Couldn’t find anything on it, but I assume that the police notify families of deaths by coming to their homes.

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• Japan has a very secular society; however, most residents are a Shinto-Buddhist mix. Shintoism and Buddhism can be so closely intertwined in Japanese rituals that many young adults can’t tell you the difference between the two. But whereas weddings and births are commonly conducted Shinto-style, most funerals are not.
• 91% of Japanese funerals are conducted in traditional Buddhist style. Because there’s no embalming that takes place, the funeral process goes fairly quickly. In America, it might take a week after someone’s death for the funeral to occur. In Japan, I’d say...around four days? Possibly three if the family is really organized.   
• Karamatsu is either moments away from dying or has just passed away a few minutes ago. At this time, the Matsunos are going to prepare for matsugo no mizu, a ritual where the deceased are given one last “drink” of water. They need: a tray, a bowl of water, a cotton ball, gauze, and disposable chopsticks. To perform matsugo no mizu, the oldest family member (Matsuzo?) takes the cotton ball, sits it on the tip of the chopsticks and covers it with the gauze. The gauze is then secured to the chopsticks with white/clear string and soaked in the water. From oldest to youngest, the Matsunos take turns wetting Karamatsu’s lips. Some families use a white feather, a new writing brush, or a leaf of Japanese star anise instead of gauze.
• The purpose of matsugo no mizu is to ensure your loved one passes on in a comfortable manner. The white feather, if used, allows the deceased safe, speedy passage to the afterlife and Japanese star anise is considered sacred by Buddhists in Japan.
• Matsugo no mizu is only performed by close family members and has a specific order. The order is: spouse → children → parents → siblings → children-in-law → grandchildren. (But within this order, it’s still oldest to youngest.)  
• 80% of deaths in Japan occur in the hospital. If Karamatsu dies there, then a nurse will prepare for matsugo no mizu after removing all medical equipment from his body. Then the Matsunos will allowed to perform the ritual. After this, Karamatsu’s body would be taken to the morgue and won’t be seen again until the funeral.
• In the hospital, nurses will perform ritual cleaning of his body. The cleaning starts with wiping him down with alcohol, then washing the body with hot water to rid him of the suffering he incurred in death. Then, they’ll plug his ears, nose, mouth, and anus with cotton. The hospital staff will receive clothes (usually a suit or kimono, but it’s common to include something that the person liked wearing) from the Matsunos for Karamatsu to wear and then they’ll do his makeup. For the funeral makeup, Karamatsu’s hair will be styled and his nails will be cut. His face will be shaved if necessary and they’ll apply cosmetics to add color to his face. Finally, cotton is put in Karamatsu’s cheeks if they’ve sunken in.       
• After matsugo no mizu, the Matsunos are going to call extended family to notify them of Karamatsu’s death. Then the authorities are notified (if the death occurred at home) and the death certificate I mentioned last chapter needs to be completed.
• The next ritual involves the family shrine, so I will cover it next chapter!
• If Karamatsu dies at home, he stays at home until the day of the funeral. He’ll be put in a futon and packed with ice. A white cloth will be used to cover his face and visitors will be allowed to view his body. Until the funeral, a family member stays in the room with Karamatsu at night.
• Next to Karamatsu’s body (or in the sextuplet’s room if he died in the hospital), a small table would be set up. The table has a long candle, a small bowl filled with sand and a stick of incense, a vase of flowers, and a bowl shaped bell (called an orin) and its hammer. Right before the wake, the table is often upgraded to a large, white stand and several items are added: “pillow rice”, a glass of water, and six “pillow dango”.
• Pillow rice is simply a bowl of rice with a pair of chopsticks placed straight up in the center of the bowl. Pillow dango are round dumplings made out of sweet rice flour that, to my knowledge, have no filling. The day that Karamatsu dies, Matsuyo is going to make six pillow dango and set them on the aforementioned table. The proper formation is five dango in a flower shape on the bottom and one dango in the center on top of the others. The pillow dango and the pillow rice are made everyday until the cremation. After each day, the food is wrapped in paper and saved to add to the coffin on the day of the funeral.      
• A white paper lantern is placed outside the Matsuno household’s door to alert neighbors that a death has occurred.  
• Osomatsu, as the oldest son, has to start arranging the funeral by contacting a local temple to schedule the funeral events. The dates are mainly dictated by rokuyo, or days that are considered lucky or unlucky. Funerals are never held on days labeled tomobiki, since that would be thought to incur death on one of the funeral-goers.  
• Unfortunately, Osomatsu is in charge of all the boring stuff (Matsuzo and Matsuyo will help him, though). He has to choose the funeral service company, who will set up all equipment for the wake and funeral. Then choose a priest from the temple to lead the sutras for the events, etc. Very, very boring stuff. Tell me in the comments if you need all the details!
• It’s the day of the wake! This is might take place at a temple, at a building set up by the funeral service company, or in the Matsunos’ home. At the front of the room will be a large flower arrangement that sits on a table. A framed picture of Karamatsu would be put in the center of the arrangement along with a memorial tablet used to honor the family’s dead ancestors.
• The Matsunos will sit at the front of room. When visitors come in, they’ll sign their name in a book and drop off envelopes of money. The envelopes have anywhere between $30 and $300, depending on their relationship to Karamatsu and their wealth. The book and the envelopes are given to the Matunos after the service. The visitors give their condolences to the family and go to another room where food and drinks (which Osomatsu got to choose) have been set out. After the priest arrives, the guests come back to the main room and the wake begins.
• In front of the arrangement, the priest will light some incense and begin chanting sutras (Buddhist scriptures). Matsuzo will go to the front and bow towards Karamatsu’s picture, then he’ll offer incense, put it in a burner, pray, bow, and return to his seat. Then Matsuyo will go, then Osomatsu on down to Todomatsu. Any relatives will go, then all the visitors. The guests will bow towards the Matsunos on the way back to their seats. The priest will stop chanting and the wake ends.
• The wake is an event that acquaintances and neighbors are welcome to attend, but you’ll usually only see family and close friends at the funeral.
• If Karamatsu’s body is at home, then a few close relatives might volunteer or be asked to stay in the room with his body overnight. Family members will take turns through the night making sure incense is burning at all times. There’s a lot of eating, drinking, and reminiscing between those standing vigil during the night. (With five sons, I doubt they're gonna ask anyone to stay over, though.)    
• It’s the day of the funeral! If he died in the hospital, Karamatsu’s body will be dropped off at the temple or building where the funeral will be held and he’ll be placed in his casket that’s full of dry ice. Before adding the dry ice, the Matsunos will be asked to place a white kimono, a pair of sandals, six coins, and some burnable items that Karamatsu liked inside his casket. Matsuyo would also add the servings of pillow dango and pillow rice that she made into the casket. These are all items that’ll be taken to the afterlife. The casket is then sat in front of the wake arrangement along with a wooden tablet that’s inscribed with Karamatsu’s kaimyo. If he died at home, the body and the casket will be transported to the funeral site.
• A kaimyo is a posthumous name that is chosen by the priest and given to Karamatsu. Karamatsu is renamed so that his ghost won’t pop up when people say his name. Surprisingly, even in Japan’s modern society, people treasure and continue to buy kaimyo. Kaimyo inscriptions normally go at $1000 per character. Most middle-class families try to stick with names that are two or three-character in length, but priests will try to shake you down to buy a longer name (this has caused some scandals at temples in Japan and China).
• Japanese caskets are wooden boxes with no lacquer. They’re usually plain, but some have elaborate carvings. At the front of the lid, is a two-door window that can be opened for viewing of the deceased’s face. There are no handles, so a stretcher-like object is used to wheel the casket in and out of rooms. The dry ice that’s added to the casket is to prevent decomposition of the body.
• At the funeral, the setup is exactly like the wake, except Karamatsu’s there now, everyone is wearing black suits (w/h a white shirt and black slacks), dresses, or kimonos, and everyone in attendance has prayer beads in preparation for the service. The priest enters, starts the sutras and the funeral begins. Everybody does the same thing they did during the wake, except they put the prayer beads around their hands while they pray. The priest stops chanting when everyone is done and leaves the room. Osomatsu goes to the front, thanks everyone for coming, and the final viewing starts.
• If people weren’t crying before, they are now. In the same order of wake and funeral prayers, family and friends will take turns plucking a flower from the arrangement and placing it next to Karamatsu’s head and shoulders. They’ll have time to touch the body and say goodbye for the last time. Afterwards, the casket is sealed and carted to a hearse waiting outside.
• If Karamatsu’s body is too disfigured to look at, then there is no final viewing and the casket would be sealed before arrival at the funeral site.
• Japanese hearses are nothing like American ones. They’re like mini-temples attached to a car. Please look it up; it’s kinda scary how elaborate they are.
• The Matsunos will drive to the crematorium to see the casket placed in the furnace. They’ll leave, have dinner with the funeral-goers, and come back after about two hours. They and other relatives will be sent to a room where Karamatsu’s ashes and remains will be laid out on a table. They’ll begin picking the bones out of the ashes with chopsticks to transfer them to an urn.
• The bones are passed from chopstick to chopstick or held by two people at the same time to be transferred. You start with the toes and move up to skull. The adam’s apple is the most important bone and will almost certainly be placed in the urn that will return to the Matsuno household. Some ashes might be taken in a second urn to be placed at the family headstone or in the temple. After the urn is filled with the bones and ashes, it’s closed, wrapped in white cloth, and taken home to sit in the family shrine.
• Some families sprinkle salt on the ground to walk on before they enter their home, to cleanse themselves and prevent any spirits from following them.
• Side note: if you’re in Japan or a Japanese resturant, don’t ever pass food from chopstick to chopstick or grab the same piece of food as someone else. You might remind someone of a close relative’s funeral and end up causing a scene.
• There’s some extremely interesting stuff concerning mourning, the priest and the family shrine, so I will wait to cover it. I’ll also discuss family headstones/graves in the next chapter!                      
• The average price of a funeral in 2010 was around $17,000.
• If you have to take anything away from this chapter, please let it be that 99.8% of Japanese people are cremated after death. No burials, no graves, nothing of the sort. Please. Cremate your dead matsu.