Rows of panelled alcoves in a columbarium in Tokyo, stacked floor to ceiling like bank safety deposit boxes, are just one sign of an ongoing revolution in Japan's 1.5 trillion yen (HK$120 billion) business of death. Until recently a staid, overpriced sector that offered customers few choices, funeral services are being transformed by technology and competition.
Customised memorials, pre-death portraits and group outings to scatter ashes are among the smorgasbord of services available to the bereaved. The elderly are beginning to plan their own funeral services - once a taboo subject - by writing farewell letters and making DVD recordings of their lives. Some even have outfits prepared ahead of time for their funerals and make their own crematory urns.
'Japanese funerals used to be big and expensive but they're becoming simpler, cheaper and more tailored to individual needs,' says Shigeru Kobayakawa, author of Sayonara no Katachi (Customising Your Goodbyes).
The country's deepest recession since the 1970s is accelerating the transformation, he says. 'People are becoming more aware of costs; the elderly are thinking, 'Why should I spend all that money when I can leave it to my children?''
Japan is probably the world's most expensive place to die. A typical funeral ceremony runs to about 1.5 million yen, excluding the 400,000 yen payment for a Buddhist priest to chant sutras for the soul of the dead. With a wake, headstone and burial plot, the final bill averages 4 million yen and can top 10 million, Kobayakawa says.
Price gouging is common and funeral homes often take advantage of a cultural unwillingness to haggle during a period of mourning. A 2005 survey by the Japan Consumers' Association found that over a third of customers were not even offered quotes for services before beginning the burial process. Buddhist temples charge between 300,000 yen and 400,000 yen to compose a posthumous name - known as a kaimyo - for the deceased. Confronted with the exorbitant final tab, millions of Japanese swallow hard and simply stump up the cash.
