JAPAN: Eventually, Grandma, your destination is Obasuteyama

. SHIRAISHI ISLAND, Japan / JAPAN LITE / June 10, 2009 By Amy Chavez KAZU-CHANS CORNER: Obasuteyama Kazu-chan is my 61-year-old next door neighbor. When difficult issues come up about Japanese culture, I ask her what her opinion is. Kazu-chan's Corner will appear every few weeks to touch on certain difficult topics. Of course, this is just one person's opinion, but should give us some insight on how the Japanese people feel about certain issues. Last week's Japan Lite column dealt with obasuteyama, which prompted quite a few people to respond. Obasuteyama is a mountain where old people were taken and left to die in the mountains. While this sounds very cruel, Kazu-chan explained the stories of obasuteyama are "atatakai hanashi" (touching), and do not necessarily fit the cruel image us westerners have assigned them. She explained it thus: When you became 50 years old (the average life span at the time) the grandparent(s) would insist the grandkids take them out to the mountain to die. She doesn't know exactly why but surmised that it was because there wasn't enough food to feed the whole family and the grandparents felt they were being a burden on everyone else. She said the grandparents themselves were very much aware of what was happening and the reason it is so touching is because the rest of the family really didn't want to take the grandparents to the mountain. But they felt they had no choice (and the grandparents accepting their fate is the ultimate honorable sacrifice). The image that comes to Kazu-chan's mind is a grandchild taking his grandmother, with bound hands behind her back, to the mountain while he leads her. He is filled with grief. Kazu-chan said she doesn't know if it ever really happened or not but that there is a book written about it. She also added that she thinks it is crueler to send your grandparents off to a nursing home! Japan Lite Homepage: www.amychavez.com Copyright 2009, Amy Chavez