CALABASAS : Pair Mourn Son Who Bridged Cultural Gap

While the nation took today to mourn the loss of a man who bridged the gap between China and the United States, Sue and Donald Raskin mourned the loss of a son who brought Japan a little closer to the San Fernando Valley.

Douglas Michael Raskin, 33, fell to his death on April 17 while climbing Japan’s sacred Mt. Fuji. Born and raised in Calabasas, Raskin last year ventured to Tokyo as chief American counsel for Sony Corp., a position that took him away from his family.

“We hated the Japanese people (for taking our son so far away),” said his mother, Sue, 57, who was observing the Jewish Shiva, or mourning period, on Tuesday. “We couldn’t understand why he was there.”

Now, father Don can’t say enough about Sony. “They were there for us. It was like family.”

The bridge between Doug’s Japanese and Calabasas families materialized when his parents flew to Tokyo last week to bring their son’s body home for Sunday’s burial in Mount Sinai Memorial Park.

No less than six Sony executives greeted them at the airport and took the couple, accompanied by Doug’s sister, Carrie Croick, 36, to Doug’s office at Sony.

Upon entering the floor, the group was encircled by more than 200 of Doug’s fellow workers. During the next three hours, each worker expressed their respects to the family, sometimes in tears, shattering the family’s stereotypes of the expressionless, unfeeling Japanese worker.

“It was such an intense feeling,” Croick recalled.

Nor did the tribute end there. In respect for Doug, the workers followed the family to the cafeteria, where all 200-plus of them sat down to enjoy Doug’s favorite lunch: rice, tofu and a banana.

The respects followed the family home, where several top executives from Sony Corp. of America came to Doug’s funeral. And executives sent faxes from Tokyo that credited Doug with bridging the gap between the two cultures.

While Doug’s body may be finally laid to rest at a place where his mother can visit him, both Donald and Sue know that his spirit is back in Japan, still working away at that bridge between the two countries.

To honor that bridge, Donald wears his son’s wristwatch from that fateful fall. The time is still set to Tokyo.

“To die on Mt. Fuji is the most holy thing that can happen to a man,” said Donald, touching the watch gently. “His spirit now stays in Japan. This way I keep in touch with him.”