Japanese Funeral Customs

[Dylonius Funk]

I was wondering about what kind of burial customs and ceremonies are usually done in japan. I had an idea for an angst filled Fruba fanfic, and most of it takes place during a funeral. But i'm not really sure if the Japanese do the same kind of funeral and burial customs. I haven';t seen really anything like this in an anime. the only thing i can remember is during the first episodes of Yu Yu Hakusho. After Yusuke dies, he watches a memoiral service being held at his house, where people come, view the boidy and give condolances to his mom. I wasn't sure if that would be an accurate portrayal of a "wake", or if it was a device the writers used to get everyone Yusuke knew into one scene for purposes of story. And i also wasn't sure if there's anything like we do in the west for the funeral, where people get up and talk about the memories of the deceased at the burial/religious service. Something like that though didn't seem like something that would be done in Japan. I allways figured that most Japanese people tend to be very private about thier feelings, of course i could be mistaken or takeing sterotype as fact.

[Iridium]

Anime in general is a highly unreliable way to learn about what life and customs are actually like in Japan.

This should be more informative: The Japanese Way of Death: A Funeral in Sapporo (http://www.debito.org/JPRIjapanesefuneral.html)

[BonifaceVIII]

I always thought that the Japanese cremated their dead, but that doesn't make sense given their graveyards. I'd like to know this as well.

[ayumu]

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BonifaceVIII said:
I always thought that the Japanese cremated their dead, but that doesn't make sense given their graveyards. I'd like to know this as well.

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They're cremated and then buried. The gravestones you see are not for individuals but for whole families.

[Iridium]

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ayumu-chan said:
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BonifaceVIII said:
I always thought that the Japanese cremated their dead, but that doesn't make sense given their graveyards. I'd like to know this as well.

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They're cremated and then buried. The gravestones you see are not for individuals but for whole families.

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Wow, that's efficient.

[BonifaceVIII]

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Iridium said:
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ayumu-chan said:
[ QUOTE ]
BonifaceVIII said:
I always thought that the Japanese cremated their dead, but that doesn't make sense given their graveyards. I'd like to know this as well.

[/ QUOTE ]
They're cremated and then buried. The gravestones you see are not for individuals but for whole families.

[/ QUOTE ]
Wow, that's efficient.

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If there's one thing you can say about Japan...

[Kintaro]

Opposed to the read beans at New Year, you eat black beans AFAIK. The standard circular-shaped red or golden gift-card-thingie is cut in half as well, leaving only a half-circle. It's black as well as far as I know.

I have often heard that Japanese tend to laugh (!!!) at the funerals, but thats a lie.

[Elana]

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BonifaceVIII said:
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Iridium said:
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ayumu-chan said:
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BonifaceVIII said:
I always thought that the Japanese cremated their dead, but that doesn't make sense given their graveyards. I'd like to know this as well.

[/ QUOTE ]
They're cremated and then buried. The gravestones you see are not for individuals but for whole families.

[/ QUOTE ]
Wow, that's efficient.

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If there's one thing you can say about Japan...

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That and you have to come up with solutions when you have a space problem.

[Eishagishi]

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Iridium said:
This should be more informative: The Japanese Way of Death: A Funeral in Sapporo (http://www.debito.org/JPRIjapanesefuneral.html)

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Thanks for that link! Very interesting site--I've already ordered one each of those "Japanese Only" and "Human Tape Recorder" T-shirts (even though I was never a JET, I feel I know their pain when I'm tutoring Japanese language students here). /images/graemlins/sdsmiley.gif