Death in Japan

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.