New-style cemetery service solves the shortage of land to build graves in Japan

On the 6th floor of a high-rise building in Tokyo, Japan, Masayo Isurugi is preparing to see the ashes of her late husband. First, she will scan a QR code and perform a few simple actions on the screen.

The urn containing her husband’s ashes will be moved down by a crane system and placed behind the altar, right in front of Ms. Masayo, like the elevator system in a luxury hotel. Her husband’s photo also appeared on the screen. This system of cranes transporting ashes makes storage and worship more flexible.

Masayo Isurugi said: “I wouldn’t be able to visit him so easily if this were here cemetery tradition, because as I get older, I can’t even walk easily. But here, I can go up by elevator, and the corridor is nice and flat. I feel like having a place like this where I can visit my husband at any time is better than building a grave in a cemetery that I can rarely visit and care for.“.

Traditionally in Japan, cremated remains are placed in family mausoleums and cared for by the eldest sons of the family. However, there are some dilemmas from traditional graves that can only be solved when new cemetery services emerge.

Monk Tomohiro Hirose, of Shinkyoji Temple, in Tokyo, said: “I run a traditional cemetery with about 300 headstones, but about half of the graves have no family to look after, or no children. They are neglected. Those graves also cannot be moved to transfer land to others. This state-of-the-art cemetery can be located in any building in the city, is easy to visit, and offers a reasonably priced grave maintenance and care service.“.

This new-style cemetery can store tens of thousands of sets of ashes, which traditional cemeteries cannot do, helping to solve the shortage of ashes. land to build graves problematic in many parts of the world.

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