Religious rites for the dead in Japan changing with the times

[rug]

More families are opting for unconventional funeral arrangements for their loved ones, such as depositing mementos in a charnel house
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Japanese religious group GLA has a museum-like charnel house to store the remains and mementos of the deceased in Hokuto, Yamanashi prefecture. Photo: Kyodo

PUBLISHED : Sunday, 05 October, 2014, 5:51am

Funeral services in Japan, usually performed by Buddhist priests, are taking on new forms as bonds with family temples loosen.

Facilitating the changes are some of the country's newer religious groups, such as GLA.

Founded in 1969, GLA teaches that the human soul is eternal. In 2012, it opened a charnel house on the premises of its spiritual training facility in Hokuto, Yamanashi prefecture.

The house, which looks like a modern museum and has won an award at an illumination contest in North America, keeps not only remains of the deceased but also personal mementos such as photos and messages. Visitors can also watch video recordings of their loved ones.

http://www.scmp.com/news/asia/article/1609757/religious-rites-dead-japan-changing-times#main-menu

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shinji_Takahashi

[littlemissmartypants]

1. Rug this is really cool. Thanks for your post. nt