Unless you either bequeath your body to science, or the Japanese
Yakuza (organized crime) sentence you off to swim with the fishes, Japan has a
99.8% rate for cremation.
At the final ceremony, the family provides a shroud to
cover the loved one's body and stands by as it is slid into the furnace.
An hour or two later, the family returns to distribute the remains from the
crematory vault into several separate urns.
To do this, special ceremonial chopsticks are used. The
remnant bones are segregated and placed into urns with foot and leg bones
first. The body is deposited from feet to head with skull fragments last to be
transferred. This is the only time in Japanese culture where two people with
chopsticks can work the sticks together in one bowl. To do so at any time during
a meal will evoke memories of deceased family members and onlookers may
experience emotional outbursts. For two people to be together in the same soba
bowl is really bad taste.
The ashes will be distributed among close family members, the
temple of the deceased and sometimes to the deceased’s employer. There is a
story where the family of an exemplary employee of 43 years for a Tokyo coffee
distribution company was given a company coffee cup. Ashes were then returned
to be placed upon the wall of honor at company headquarters.
The family monument is typically located in a cemetery
within the neighborhood of where the host (purchaser) grew up. The plot is
about 2 meters by 3 meters. A prime spot over an affluent neighborhood in Tokyo
can cost over $300,000. The higher and more forward the prominence of location of the plot indicates the social status
of the host.
When a new plot and monument are purchased, the host
family might aggregate the remains of ancestors and move them together to share
the plot. The monument is inscribed with all those in residence as well as
those living who will have a spot for eternity. The names of the living are
inscribed and then filled with a red pigment that is later to be washed out
upon burial in the future.
It’s been reported that the remains of the wealthy and
famous are vulnerable to theft and ransom, so secretive measures are taken to
protect monuments. Modern monuments can be equipped with RFID readers installed so that the
host family can determine (by proximity to a visitor's credit card or driver’s license) who has visited to pay respects with a date/time stamp on the record.
In Japan, you have to
earn that inheritance.
