- Title: JAPAN: High-tech high-rise graveyards lure new "residents" in over-crowded Tokyo
- Date: 5th November 2009
- Summary: TOKYO, JAPAN (RECENT) (REUTERS) CEMETERY SURROUNDED BY BUILDINGS AND HOUSES JAM-PACKED TOMBSTONES IN THE CEMETERY MORE OF TRADITIONAL JAPANESE CEMETERY MORE OF TOMBSTONES IN THE CEMETERY
- Embargoed: 20th November 2009 12:00
- Keywords:
- Location: Japan
- Country: Japan
- Topics: Light / Amusing / Unusual / Quirky
- Reuters ID: LVA7TRAV327L99Z63TLY56GHHUKA
- Story Text: The six-story Kouanji (pronounced Koh-Ahn-Jee) Buddhist temple building in downtown Tokyo has inhabitants like no other.
With the exception of the resident priest and his family - all occupants of the 6,850 lodgings are dead and resting in peace in vaults deep in storage.
Rika Iwasaki's (pronounced Ree-kah Ee-wah-sah-kee) husband is one of those packed away in a marble box that comes rumbling out of the inner chambers on a conveyor belt to an depensing machine only a few steps from the building reception lobby at the swipe of a plastic card.
It takes only a minute for the box to settle in front of a tiny water fountain, where Iwasaki can then burn incense and offer her regular prayers to her late husband in the privacy of the glass partitions.
"Here, you don't need to wander around the cemetery to find your family's grave because with the quick insert of a card, your grave is brought to you. It's especially convenient for first-time visitors or friends," said Iwasaki.
In Japan nearly everyone is cremated - 99.9 percent according to the Cremation Society of Great Britain's website - and only the remaining ashes are interred. It is also customary is to be buried in a common family plot or grave.
High-rise graveyards are not uncommon in the country where land is scarce for the living and the dead and cemeteries have long been overcrowded.
Kouanji is able to pack the remains of a maximum of 100,000 people or at least their ashes in one high-tech building has made these graveyard "plots" more accessible and affordable.
For Kazuko Kazawa (pronounced Kah-zoo-koh Kah-zah-wah), who lives in Ibaraki (pronounced Ee-bah-rah-kee), a two-hour drive from Tokyo, having her husband's grave in Tokyo close to his colleagues was more important than anything else.
Friends and colleagues can get a temporary access card at the reception and visit 7 days a week between 10 am to 18 pm.
"A colleague of my deceased husband visited here today and that's the benefit of having the grave in Tokyo. No one would ever come to see him if it were in Ibaraki," said Kazawa.
This type of cemetery has proven so popular that the temple is already building another one with a capacity of 4,700 "rooms" - right next door.
And reservations for that one are already one-fourth full.
Chizuko Kosugi (pronounced Chee-zoo-koh Koh-soo-gee), a 68-year-old Tokyo resident, is one such "new" customer who has just reserved a space in the future neighbouring high-rise necropolis for herself and her family.
"I don't find the automated system repulsive. I'd rather buy the convenience of this cemetery where people don't need to worry about rain or be bothered by having to look after the grave. Some may say it's too convenient, but I'm fine with that," Kosugi told Reuters.
Head priest Junsho Watanabe (pronounced June-Shoh Wah-tah-nah-bay) explains that while the convenience is certainly big selling point, his graves' popularity boils down to their price tag.
At 780,000 yen (8,635 US dollars) for a marble box and it's storage space, and 15,000 yen (170 US dollars) per year in maintenance fees, it is one-fifth the price of a regular tomb in a regular graveyard in the same part of Tokyo.
The 60 cm (23 inch) wide square marble boxes which are 20 cm (8 inches) thick can fit the remains of, at least, nine remains.
"Each family urn can contain up to nine ash envelops, and because of Japan's low fertility rate and consequently diminishing family size, it takes well 70 to 80 years for a family to reach the full capacity of the box," Watanabe added.
Until twelve years ago, this 400-year-old temple used to look like any other Buddhist temple and the original 550 graveyards and tombs that pre-date the building were preserved and are now in the basement.
The head priest says thanks to changing attitudes that he's been able to develop his temple this way and changing social mores will change the funeral industry in Japan even more in the future.
"These days, funerals are attended by less number of people compared to the past and it is the same for visits to pay respect to the deceased -- they are no longer a family affair but more of a personal one. I think we'll soon see graves for just one person instead of the whole family," said Watanabe.
However, there is still a lot of resistance in superstitious Japan surrounding building high-rise necropolises such as Kouanji in the middle of cities.
The rentals on apartments located next cemeteries are usually less than similar ones in the same neighbourhood and Watanabe says he was very fortunate to have been able to convince residents and get their permission.
But eventually even these traditional attitudes may change as more and more high-rise cemeteries pop up in more neighbourhoods around the country. - Copyright Holder: REUTERS
- Copyright Notice: (c) Copyright Thomson Reuters 2011. Open For Restrictions - http://about.reuters.com/fulllegal.asp
- Usage Terms/Restrictions: None