One of my distant relatives was passed away last Friday, and I attended to the funeral on last Sunday.
I had to dig up my rei-fuku, the formal suits from my closet.
Rei-fuku, you can wear it for weddings and funerals in Japan.
However, mo-fuku, the one kind of rei-fuku, you can wear only for funerals.
I wear rei-fuku for both weddings and funerals because neither weddings nor funerals happen so often.
Because of that, I could not remember where I left my rei-fuku after I wore it for the last wedding or funeral. So, I had to find it where I left first.
Yes, that's me.
After I found it, I had to take it to the cleaning store; that was my last Saturday morning.
At one of the cleaning stores in Miyako, if you bring your clothes by 10 am, they can get the cleaning done by 4 pm in the same day. So, I asked them that speeding cleaning for my rei-fuku.
For myself: After weddings or funerals, take the rei-fuku to the cleaning store ASAP instead of putting it away to somewhere.
At the funeral on last Sunday, I was asked to do the reception.
What I had to do there were;
1. When the guests came in, I ask them to write their name and address on the guestbook.
2. When I receive kouden, the incense money in envelops from them, I put them into one bag and keep it safe. (It sounds very weird for the people from foreign countries, but in Japan, when somebody passed away and you get invited for the funeral, you have to bring them some money in envelop as the incense money. Usually, it's 5,000 yen - 10,000 yen)
3. After I received kouden, then I gave them the funeral gifts, that the family had prepared beforehand, back to them in return.
For the first couple times, I was like
After I did this couple times (or might be more,) I became good at giving the funeral gifts back to them. Even I could handle 3 guests at the same time without any problems. Wow.
So, I was like the professional of the reception person for the funeral.
I don' t know how useful that is though.
Maybe I can put it on my resume.
Or not.