Graves and End-of-Life Planning – Japanology Plus
[Applause] [Music] a tree used in place of a [Music] gravestone ashes scattered at [Music] Sea this building houses a Crypt featuring an automated transportation system in Japan Graves and funeral rights are changing significantly the dwindling birth rate and aging population are contributing to a decline in traditional family Graves some towns have built a shared grave for the entire Community other communities help solitary elders residents with end of life [Music] planning in this episode we look at end of life planning and the different types of graves in present day [Music] Japan hello and welcome to japanology plus I’m Peter barakan as you can probably see I’m standing in a cemetery and that’s because we’re going to be talking about Graves and Shu catsu which means end of life planning in 2023 over 1.59 million people died in Japan it’s the highest number on record and it’s due to continue increasing until about 240 which means Japan is going to need more Graves now that situation has started a lot of people and not just the elderly but people still in the prime of Life thinking about what they want to happen at the end of their lives in Japan when it comes to Graves and funerals there are multiple options and on today’s program we’ll take a look at some of the more recent developments the cemetery Peter is visiting is a municipal facility in Yokohama it’s a beautiful Green Space covering an entire Hill Hello kotan nice to meet you thanks for having me midi is a researcher exploring topics related to death and dying she teaches at universities and also delivers public lectures about Graves and end of life planning this is a pretty typical Japanese grave isn’t it for those who are not familiar with these perhaps you could just explain a little bit after World War II Japan moved from burial to Cremation around 50 years ago 20 % of Japanese were buried this is a grave for people who were crated underneath there’s space for grandparents and their children and grandchildren multiple Generations it contains many earns these days 99.9% of Japanese are chromated almost everybody is cremated a grave like this holds ears containing cremated remains H A lot of times you see cemeteries adjoining Buddhist temples this is a public Cemetery are there any major differences between the two the main difference is that temples are religious facilities in order to be interred there you need to be affiliated with that Buddhist sex but in public cemeteries like this there are no religious restrictions you can ask priests to recite Buddhist sutras or pastors to offer Christian prayers people can use the graves as they wish there’s an expression that you hear quite a lot recently in Japanese shoe cut which means I suppose preparing for the end of life and that’s something that you just didn’t hear before did you yes the term has become much more widely used over the last 10 years or so previously people didn’t plan for what would happen after they died that was their family’s job the family would take care of it rather than the person themselves but these days more people are living only in nuclear families children and grandchildren are often far away people don’t want to trouble anyone they’re leaving behind so they themselves plann for their grave their funeral their possessions and so on they prepare banking information so their account can be taken care of increasingly elderly people are seeing that preparation as important oh I see traditional Japanese Graves consist of a stack of three stone blocks flowers and incense are common offerings on special holidays twice a year and on other Memorial days people go to their family grave to pay respects to their [Music] ancestors the current style of grave emerged around the early 17th century the shogunate was wary of Christianity and created a system where every household was affiliated with a Buddhist temple this strengthened connections between temples and parishioners temples set up graveyards in their grounds they conducted funerals and Memorial Services Temple affiliation evolved into established customs in the mid 19th century the government established a family register the firstborn son would inherit the responsibility of looking after the family and the family grave it became common for the family name to be carved onto the gravestone this came to symbolize the family’s prosperity and kinship as the economy grew in the 20th century more and more Japanese people moved to urban areas there weren’t enough Temple cemeteries in the cities so secular facilities began to appear particularly in the suburbs in modern Japan more and more graves are found in cemeteries like [Music] this Japan’s population has been in Decline for a little while now is that having any effect on the situation surrounding Graves the graves built in postwar Japan were intended to be passed down from generation to generation the idea was that family members who were together in life could also be together in death but we’ve now moved toward nuclear families many people haven’t ever lived with their grandparents so the idea of sharing a grave with them feels very strange to a lot of younger people Japan’s population decline means that while lots of GRA are built there are fewer family members to take care of them some Graves go completely unvisited there are Graves that haven’t received any offerings these unattended graves are on the increase so what happens then those graves are dismantled their locations are cleared in the case of a public Cemetery like this the municipality can rent them out to other people but physically removing a gravestone and leveling the ground is costly also the associated administrative aspects take a lot of time and effort so the overwhelming majority of unattended graves are simply left as they are it’s a new social problem actually just behind you I I can see that there are several Graves that are really over grown and just looking around there’s quite a lot if Graves aren’t visited and cleaned regularly weeds spring up in no time at all but as the bereaved get older that kind of Maintenance becomes more and more difficult visiting a grave involves Hands-On activities and so recently a growing number of people want to stop using family Graves there’s demand for new forms of graves Japanese graves are evolving with the times recently shared Graves have become a popular option this shared grave can be used for any residents of the community regardless of blood relation oh the children and grandchildren of the deceased don’t need to come and maintain it it holds the remains of thousands of people so visitors come every day there are always fresh flowers there’s a growing appreciation for this approach this shed grave in fuga prefecture is modeled after ancient keyhole-shaped burial mounds it’s covered with grass and surrounded by clay figures intended to soothe the spirits of the deceased it’s 53 M long and can hold the remains of 3,100 people this shared grave is a type of crypt the remains of individuals and families are placed in compact storage [Music] units in City centers automated Tower likee crits are appearing in convenient spots near train stations this is equipped with an automated transportation system when you visit you receive a card at reception the system scans the card and automatically retrieves the remains of the designated person which are kept underground you can hear the device moving through the system and clicking into place then you can pay your respects right it would be a bit like a multi-story car park wouldn’t it recently more people are asking to have their ashes scattered The Remains ground into powder form are released at Sea in the mountains and so on the sea is an increasingly popular option ashes can even be sent into space balloons like this are used first a small balloon is filled with ashes it’s then placed inside a large helium balloon which floats up over 35 kilomet and reaches the stratosphere atmospheric pressure makes the balloons burst scattering the [Music] ashes Some people prefer to tread a loved one’s [Music] ashes the powdered remains can be worn as an accessory or placed in a room at home a new service lets people who move to a different part of Japan transfer a family grave they place the ashes in a grave likee container and pay a monthly fee to house them at a registered Temple Japan has a wide range of graves suitable for different [Music] circumstances our next stop is both a park and a cemetery this is like one of those cemeteries that you see for people who died in the war there are no tall gravestones instead it’s a Memorial Park with a western atmosphere you I’ve not seen one of these in Japan before and what’s this you wouldn’t even know that it’s a grave would you this is referred to as a tree barrier rather than erecting a gravestone a tree is planted above a shared grave visitors can focus on the tree as they pray but are are there NS underneath there or are there just ashes scattered underneath the tree the ashes are in NS the turf is peeled off and the N is buried in the ground okay so every time they want put in some new ones they have to dig up the the ground again that’s right okay H why is this so popular now for one thing it’s cheap the burial process is simple so it doesn’t cost much and with respect to this particular place it’s popular with people who are still alive they choose this tree burial in advance as their own grave okay I kind of get that h a place like this really generates a sense that the dead have returned to Nature and so when it comes to Shared Graves a tree burial is a very popular option when people apply for this kind of a grave while they’re still alive I wonder how they feel about being buried with a large number of complete strangers some people apply together with a group of friends and some graves are run by private organizations or npos applicants sign up to be buried with strangers and then the organizers set up opportunities for applicants to meet each other while they’re still alive in this way a community forms among people who have chosen to be buried in the same grave okay that’s kind of interesting you make friends with people presumably in pretty old age with the view to being buried together when the time comes okay they’re called grave mates friends who share a grave after death h this is a very large Cemetery in Corbet hogo prefecture the word eternity is carved onto a shared grave set up by a cooperative for senior citizens there’s a one-time fee of 1 to 200,000 Yen for interment and Memorial Services there are no upkeep fees as it’s a tenth of the price of a temp grave there are lots of applicants around half of the 256 contract holders signed up themselves the group meets several times a year they have meals and conduct joint grave visits people in these communities form friendships and call each other grave mates events are held two to three times a year with around 30 people attending each time here are katur tatui and Asaka who enjoy going to these meals and other events [Music] [Laughter] asakawa looks forward to maintaining the Casual friendships that she has made with her group of grave [Music] mates Peter what kind of grave do you think you would like to have I don’t really need a grave I don’t think I’ve always thought I just want to go back to Nature and I think i’ just like to have my ashes scattered somewhere either in the mountain or maybe in the sea but I understand why people would want to be buried like this all the other varieties of options that there are but I suppose there are people who don’t have those options as well true in Japan there’s been a recent increase in Graves at nursing homes family is about more than blood relations for many people while you’re alive you forg close bonds with others and after you die who do you want to be with where do you want to be I think Japanese people have started to think of graves in that way it’s seen as where you live in the world Beyond uh-huh where and how will you spend your time and with who else more and more people are considering these questions the traditional three generation 2 is just one option many other forms are now available information about such burial options doesn’t always reach elderly people living alone many of them struggle with end of life [Music] planning the city of yosa near Tokyo decided to start offering them support the city asks elderly residents without relatives or financial means for their burial preferences they set up a contract between the resident and an Undertaker involving an advanced payment of around 260,000 Yen the city visits the client regularly and after death sees the burial process through to the end Sak masay has signed up she doesn’t have children and when she was in her 40s her husband a police officer fell ill and died she cared for her mother and mother-in-law but has now lived alone for over 40 years Sako is regularly visited by case workers who work for the city’s [Music] service they visit or call her every 2 to 3 months they developed a written plan with her detailing what will happen after she dies an Undertaker will take her remains to a temple where she will be buried in her family grave when she passes away the hospital will notify the Undertaker and the city will take care of everything else the project began in 2015 around 140 people signed up and about half have since died their wishes were Faithfully carried out if there are lots of people living alone there will be cases where they suddenly pass away and what happens afterwards if they don’t specify their preferences while they’re alive it inconveniences others people should make decisions about the end of their own life and then tell someone it’s important to get that information recorded that’s something I’m aware of as well personally at my age but when you’re busy doing what you do in your daily life you just forget about it today where you live may have no bearing on your final resting place and so when you die if you haven’t told anyone the location of your family grave for example no one will know where it is while they’re alive people should record information about what they want to be done when the time comes there’s a need for that and it’s a new phenomenon these days there’s even a communal effort to make a grave sustainable this is Ki a district with around 100 residents in nantan city today there’s a long line at the local temple people are here to visit a community [Music] grave this happens on certain special days when loved ones are recalled the grave was built in [Music] 2020 it was a local priest’s idea in response to the problem of unattended Graves if the population continued declining there would be more and more neglected Graves the priest reached out to the community and they decided to build a shared grave that people could cooperate to maintain the priest suggested accepting remains from elsewhere after promoting the grave online inquiries started coming in [Music] a fee of 160,000 Yen covers interment and Memorial Services 30 or so non-locals are commemorated here they include single people and women who didn’t want to be buried with their husband’s family this memorial service drew around 80 people they too helped to maintain the community grave which is appreciated by local residents and the priest some of the visitors to the shared grave have even become friends the system is initiating a new community Peter have you conducted any end of life planning as I said earlier I am aware of the need for it and in addition to all the things that you mentioned in my case I have a large collection of recorded music on LPS and CDs and to me it’s very valuable for a lot of people it might be absolutely worthless but I know there are people who do find Value in these things and I’d like to make sure that my collection goes to somebody or maybe some people or even an organization that will value it and that’s something I need to find a home for in the not too distant future yes pred death arrangements for the distribution of possessions to prevent your things from being thr away you need to find new owners that’s part of end of life planning yeah that is something I need to start working on pretty soon in your case what to you would be the ideal form of burial I think the graves serve two purposes first they’re where people are laid to rest also there are place where the people left behind can go and feel a connection with the deceased H that’s the second function and to me that’s the most important thing a grave might look impressive but if no one visits it and no one remembers its owner what’s the point of having that grave in the first place I don’t think that a grave visit itself is essential in fact a grave itself isn’t essential what’s important is to live in a way that people will remember you once you’re gone I think interpersonal relations are the most important thing to consider the future of graves we really have to examine our present day relationships and how we want them to be I agree very much thank you very much thank you
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End-of-life planning is a rising concern for Japan’s aging population.