“Grandma,” a woman who narrowly survived two Tokyo catastrophes and always maintained her sense of humor, became a social media star—four years after her death.

Grandma’s wit and character even brought smiles to her surviving family members during arrangements for her funeral.

Four months before her death in September 2017, a banquet was held to honor her 100th birthday. (The year she was born was counted as the first.)

Grandma had been hospitalized several times for heart problems, but she recovered each time.

According to her granddaughter, Kiyokiyo (her online handle), the 99-year-old remained in her bedroom one morning, so Kiyokiyo’s aunt went to wake her up and found that she had died in her sleep.

Grandma had often said that she wanted to be an organ donor and carried around a donor’s card as proof.

“Do you want to stay alive longer as a parasite in somebody else?” a family member quipped.

Grandma countered, “Oh, don’t say that. It’s about recycling of life.”

She apparently didn’t know about the upper age limit on organ donors.

Her organs, of course, were never donated.

MANILA ENVELOPE BY BEDSIDE

After she turned 70, Grandma began telling those around her about a “manila envelope” that was always placed on a stand by her bedside and contained her will and testament.

“It’s not about inheritance, so feel free to open it when the time comes,” she said.

She likely rewrote it every several years.

After Grandma died, her children and grandchildren decided to open the envelope together.

It contained a portrait photo of her late husband--Kiyokiyo’s grandfather--and her own portrait to be used at her funeral.

The envelope also had a letter.

Everyone assumed it would be a message for her children and grandchildren. But that was not the case.

It contained 10 instructions, summarized as follows:

(1) The vigil and the funeral should be as simple as a farewell ceremony.

(2) The funeral should be attended by her children and grandchildren alone.

(3) Her grandchildren should put their work duties, if any, ahead of her funeral.

(4) Her grandsons’ wives and her great-grandchildren need not attend.

(5) Spare expenses to the best extent possible.

(6) The funeral, cremation and the interment of ashes should be finished in a single day.

(7) Funeral offerings, including money, arranged flowers, garlands and baskets, should all be declined.

(8) At this precious opportunity to be together, her children and grandchildren should hold a banquet at such and such restaurant. The bill has been paid in advance.

(9) Memorial services, including the one to mark the 49th day of her death, need not be held. The priest has been told that in advance.

(10) Those who have survived her should enjoy their own lives.

After reading the note, Kiyokiyo thought it was “Grandma all over.”

The contents never sounded too stingy, and the letter rather came across as snappy and businesslike.

Nonetheless, the note still reflected the writer’s affection for her children and grandchildren, albeit in an awkward manner.

Her advance payment for the banquet showed her concerns that her family members had few opportunities to get together except on ceremonial occasions.

Kiyokiyo said she was impressed by the way Grandma remained until her very last moment.

SURVIVOR OF KANTO QUAKE, AIR RAID

Grandma was born in 1918.

She said her home was destroyed in the 1923 Great Kanto Earthquake, which killed about 105,000 people.

She ran with her children to flee the incendiary bombs dropped during the 1945 Great Tokyo Air Raid, which caused an estimated 100,000 deaths.

Her husband, who had been sent to the front, returned safely after World War II ended, but he died of illness at 40.

Grandma did not remarry. She obtained a therapist license for acupuncture and moxibustion to support her family.

A strong motherly figure, she raised four children by herself.

After her children went out on their own, Grandma traveled to Singapore, China, Egypt and elsewhere for training in acupuncture and moxibustion.

In her old age, she lived with a daughter who had divorced and returned home. The two lived merrily, saying whatever was on their minds.

Kiyokiyo cannot recall a single time when Grandma appeared to be suffering.

Her quick wit and outspokenness sometimes caused fear in Kiyokiyo, but Grandma was so humorful in the waning years of her life, the granddaughter said.

She remembers Grandma as “a strong figure who had it all her own way.”

A ‘SEE YOU’ IN HEART

The funeral was held in line with Grandma’s 10 instructions, except for the one that said her great-grandchildren need not be there.

Kiyokiyo happened to be visiting Tokyo with her children when she learned of Grandma’s death, and so they all went directly to the funeral.

The ceremony was simple, with just a few flowers and other offerings.

The casket was filled with hibiscus and crape myrtle flowers taken from among the many in the yard. A decoration of white clover flowers was handpicked and woven by a great-granddaughter.

Grandma always said she would rather see money spent on her while she was alive than when she was dead.

None of the family members regretted the modesty of the funeral. They had doted on Grandma while she was alive, just as she had told them to do, including offerings of seasonal delicacies, local specialty food and other gifts.

Everyone at the funeral smiled as they expressed their thoughts about Grandma. But they all wept when the hearse departed and when the body was cremated.

“See you later,” Kiyokiyo said in her heart.

She recalled a phrase Grandma said one day while she was thinking of her dying words.

“I am going first,” Grandma said. “I will be waiting for you over there (in the other world).”

‘SO SOUL-STIRRING, TAKE A LOOK’

Kiyokiyo was browsing Facebook in September when she found that her post from four years earlier about the funeral was being shared. She found Grandma’s 10 instructions were still eye-opening, despite all the time that had elapsed.

Kiyokiyo felt an urge to share Grandma’s story with others, so she posted the 10 instructions on Twitter along with a message: “My grandmother left behind a manila envelope four years ago for us to open when she was dead. What it contained remains so soul-stirring now, so take a look. Here.”

The tweet received a lot of feedback.

“Your grandmother is so cool,” one poster said.

“The story made me wish I could be like this when I am at the end of my own life,” said another.

Kiyokiyo said she was happy about the comments that flooded in because Grandma was being praised.

She said she thought at the time: “You will surely be dead some day, so death is never somebody else’s business. And the way Grandma concluded her own life provided food for thought to other people.”

Kiyokiyo also addressed Grandma “over there.”

“You said that when you failed to be a potential organ donor, you were sad because you wanted to help others in death. If the words you left are resonating right now in the hearts of so many people, that’s probably exactly what you wanted. I am happy for you, Grandma.”

Kiyokiyo, a medical worker, has also been drawing manga and illustrations under the pseudonym Kiyomaro (@sobomiyako98).

She has posted many pieces about Grandma on Twitter under the title: “Sobo Miyako 98 sai (Grandmother Miyako, age 98).”

She dreams of having a serial manga strip of her own published in a commercial magazine.

Visit her Twitter account for manga at https://twitter.com/sobomiyako98.