OSAKA, Jan 22 (News On Japan) –
A rising variety of households in Japan are selecting to shut down their household graves, pushed by elements resembling fewer descendants to inherit burial plots and the problem of sustaining graves removed from the place they now reside.
A service that enables cremated stays to be saved indefinitely started in Nara City final month, with officers saying greater than 70% of functions are being made whereas persons are nonetheless alive, reflecting rising issues about who will look after graves sooner or later.
Reporter Bamba Nagisa requested residents how they really feel about graves, with one particular person of their 40s saying summer time visits may be exhausting as a result of excessive warmth and that preserving flowers and sustaining the positioning may be tough. A resident of their 60s stated they really feel they have to put aside cash to finally get rid of the household grave, whereas a pair of their 30s stated they plan to handle the grave they inherited however fear it might develop into a burden for his or her kids, making them think about closing it down.
The follow, generally known as “hakajimai,” entails eradicating a grave and relocating the stays, and it has been rising in recent times as Japan’s declining birthrate leaves fewer folks to take over household graves.
The variety of instances involving the relocation of stays, together with hakajimai, has roughly doubled over the previous decade.
At Terayama Cemetery’s columbarium, operated by Nara City, supervisor Nakano Misao defined that the ability is designed with cabinets to retailer as much as 20,000 units of stays. The metropolis started providing an indefinite storage service there final month.
For instance, Nara residents pays a one-time price of 80,000 yen on the time of software, with no further fees, permitting the stays to be saved completely.
The facility started accepting stays in October final yr, and in about 4 months it has obtained greater than 1,500 functions.
Among these visiting the columbarium have been the Nakayama couple, who plan to shut their mother and father’ grave and got here to position the stays of the spouse’s sister, who died in October final yr. A workers member instructed them they’d start putting the stays inside and requested them to see her off.
While the service has limitations, resembling not with the ability to take out particular person urns for private visits, inquiries proceed to rise.
The Nakayamas have already reserved house for their very own stays on the facility, and the columbarium says such pre-death reservations account for greater than 70% of all functions.
Masao Nakayama, 74, stated managing a grave remains to be potential whereas they’re alive, however he worries concerning the future. Masumi Nakayama, 67, stated there can be nobody left to take care of it, including that this will merely be the period they’re dwelling in.
As household constructions and existence change, extra persons are turning to new types of memorial companies that higher match their circumstances, increasing the alternatives obtainable for a way family members are laid to relaxation.
Source: YOMIURI