A really solid work by Taniguchi, which should be no surprise. JOURNAL OF MY FATHER uses a funeral as the setting for a man's exploration of his father's memory. It's a conventional premise, but Taniguchi uses it to good effect. Yoichi and his family are depicted with as much rawness as a Japanese funeral allows, and for the most part the stiffness of the proceedings contributes to the overall work. Yoichi is essentially estranged from his family, and a funeral can't mend those fences. The most successful parts of the manga come near the end when Yoichi really comes to terms with what his estrangementhas meant for his father. While it's built on the foundation of the first half, I think that this section needed more room to breathe specifically because it's the most emotionally affecting. It seems like the story moves a little too quickly from point A to point B here.