:08:15
He was pleased that the same chrysanthemums appeared
in funerals for men and for animals.
:08:19
He described to me the ceremony held at the zoo in Ueno
in memory of animals that had died during the year.
:08:26
For two years in a row this day of mourning
has had a pall cast over it by the death of a panda,
:08:31
more irreparableaccording to the newspapers
than the death of the prime minister that took place at the same time.
:08:35
Last year people really cried.
Now they seem to be getting used to it,
:08:39
accepting that each year death takes a panda
as dragons do young girls in fairy tales.
:08:47
I've heard this sentence:
:08:48
"The partition that separates life from death
does not appear so thick to us as it does to a Westerner."
:08:58
What I have read most often in the eyes of people about to die
is surprise.
:09:02
What I read right now in the eyes of Japanese children is curiosity,
:09:06
as if they were tryingin order to understand the death of an animal
to stare through the partition.