Death Mushrooms

My co-worker approached me with a bag, so I thanked her, as I thought it was the normal humdrum bag of souvenirs that we get at school almost on a daily basis.  Thank goodness the bag was marked MEMORIAL so I knew not to be too happy and thankful about what I was getting. This package of mushrooms wrapped in a fancy box complete with a card was a gift because her father died and …still not sure why I get a gift for that, but hey. Perhaps it’s because money was collected for her father’s death from the other teachers (I usually have no idea what's going on). People get money for everything. You pay money to go to weddings (at $200-$400 a pop), baby showers, New Years (children rake in $100's) so why not funerals? According to Wikipedia, guests must bring $50- $300 to the funeral AND the average Japanese funeral costs about $14,000, the most expensive in the world. WOW!