"Now excuse me, I have to go."

The Japanese anime film director Satoshi Kon died on Tuesday, three months after being diagnosed with pancreatic cancer. He was 46. I cannot claim any familiarity with his work, but this lengthy goodbye message posted posthumously by his family leaves me speechless. “They’re the last words of a supremely talented artist who knows he is dying very soon, with work left unfinished,” notes its translator. “It’s been the talk of the Japanese internet, and it struck me deeply.” Here’s an excerpt.

I made the big decision to see my parents. They wanted to see me too. But it was going to be so hard to see them, and I didn’t have the will to. But I wanted to see my parents’ faces one last time. I wanted to tell them how grateful I was that they brought me into this world.

I’ve been a happy person. Even though I must apologize to my wife, my parents and all the people that I love, that lived out my life a bit too faster than most.

My parents followed my selfish wishes, and came the next day from Sapporo to my house. I can never forget the first words out of my mother’s mouth when she saw me lying there.

“I’m so sorry, for not bringing you into this world with a stronger body!”

I was completely speechless.

Read the rest here.