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IF YOU HAVEN'T READ THE PREVIOUS POST TITLED "206" YOU MIGHT BE MISSING SOME BACKGROUND FOR THIS POST. THANK YOU. THE MANAGER

Seriously! Stop reading this until you've read the other! The morning after Noriko's uncle passed away, the hospital called and asked us to come get his belongings. We promptly headed over and picked up a couple of bags. One bag, contained some of his mail, his wallet, a watch, and just some loose odds and ends. It also contained the remains of his father (J-Mom's father and Noriko's grandfather). Since he was living with his parents at the time of his father's death (the mother has been in a nursing home for the past 4 years), he was the caretaker of his father's remains. Since he was estranged, Noriko's mom hasn't known the whereabouts of her father's bones. Finally, she had them.

There was another bag of items, as well. This bag contained several photos of her uncle partying and several photos of his current/ex? girlfriend. There was a crucifix, a statue of a saint, a bible, and a few pictures of a baby. Oh!? And what is this? It's a little container. Hey, I've seen that kind of box before! It looks like a little funeral urn box! I can't tell you the surprise at having some unknown baby's remains in your possession. One minute you're getting this voyeuristic peek into a dead man's life and then suddenly your faced with a dead baby. That's a big "What the $%$$?" As if, I wouldn't be seeing and doing enough new things, later that day (see previous entry).

So, for the record, let me just say that there were three boxes of bones and ashes in the house yesterday evening. We searched some more and found some kind of record of a religious ceremony done for the baby. It contained the name of an unknown Japanese man and the name of a non-Japanese woman. From other evidence, we deduced it was the Filipina (ex)girlfriend's name. Other evidence, namely being, a few pictures professing her love to Noriko's uncle (with names) and a couple of letters from the lady to the uncle that were written from the Yokohama Immigration Detention center. We don't even know if this lady is in Japan, in jail in Japan, or somewhere else. I also found some kind of folded up packet of a powder hidden in the robes of the saint. We put it back, not knowing what it was (drugs? remains?).

Noriko called Immigration to find out about the lady and to ask what we should do with all the "stuff." They didn't know. They said to call the police and tell them we had the remains of an unknown baby and that it wasn't ours. A huge argument followed between the police and Noriko. The claimed they couldn't accept a baby's ashes. Noriko's main argument was that if she found a wallet, they would take it. Instead, she found a dead baby with the names of the parents and they didn't want anything to do with it. Finally, a couple of officers on mopeds dropped by to check out the scene. They suggested taking the stuff that wasn't "ours" back to the hospital.

That's what we did, but I still can't help but wonder, "What the &^%%?"

This is a picture of the Catholic saint that was in the bag. Anybody know the name? I found the strange packet of material inside the gown. Notice, it's also wearing a bracelet. It's probably for somebody else that died.