He died in Hiroo, an upscale neighborhood in central Tokyo, so it's geographically quite close to us. At least he got one last
Golden Week in before he passed. Look at the cover of
Snowflakes are Dancing:
That's a carp flag, traditionally flown on May 5th in Japan (it's a national holiday). He died on May 5th.
(One of my hobbies is to look for patterns where none exist, like Prince singing in "Let's Go Crazy":
Dearly beloved
We are gathered here today
To get through this thing called life
...
'Cause in this life
Things are much harder than in the after world
In this life
You're on your own
And if the elevator tries to bring you down
Go crazy, punch a higher floor
And he died in an elevator.)