Japan: Cultural Bondage of Funerals
Funerals in Japan are a horrendous rip-off, on the whole, especially as many feel they have to call in priests to officiate, who often charge in the millions of yen for their services. I’ve seen people defend this practice by saying that as people are expected to bring a cash gift for the family they can cover expenses; this may be true, but then again one has to give presents back to everyone who gifts, and of course there is ongoing expenses of grave maintenance and annual services for the deceased, which again can run into hundreds of thousands.
Research results
Q1: Have you ever attended a funeral? (Sample size=432)
| All | Male N=249 | Female N=183 | |
| Yes (to SQ) | 92.4% | 90.0% | 95.6% |
| No | 7.6% | 10.0% | 4.4% |
Q1SQ: Have you ever been involved in the organising of a funeral? (Sample size=399)
| All | Male N=224 | Female N=175 | |
| Yes | 11.8% | 12.5% | 10.9% |
| No | 88.2% | 87.5% | 89.1% |
Q2: When you pop your clogs, would you want a funeral service? (Sample size=432)
| All | Male N=249 | Female N=183 | |
| Definitely (to SQ) | 6.7% | 7.6% | 5.5% |
| If possible (to SQ) | 43.3% | 42.6% | 44.3% |
| No, don’t want | 50.0% | 49.8% | 50.3% |
Some of the main reasons why people wanted a funeral were a wish to properly depart from everyone, to allow relatives to sort out their emotions, to take the opportunity to let people know I was dead. Further reasons were because it’s the custom or what society expects. For those not wanting one, people didn’t feel it necessary, not wanting to burden the relatives, funerals are for the living, not the dead, and just that it is expensive.
Q2SQ: Do you have any wishes regarding the kind of funeral you want? (Sample size=216)
| All | Male N=125 | Female N=91 | |
| Yes, lots | 0.5% | 0.0% | 1.1% |
| Yes, some | 32.9% | 20.8% | 49.5% |
| No, none | 66.7% | 79.2% | 49.5% |
The sorts of wishes people had were a modest one, a simple one, a not expensive one, and a family-only affair.
Q3: For your own particular religious sect, do you know roughly how much it costs in total for a funeral service? (Sample size=432)
| All | Male N=249 | Female N=183 | |
| Know most of the costs | 18.8% | 19.3% | 18.0% |
| Know some of the costs | 20.8% | 18.9% | 23.5% |
| Don’t know anything | 60.4% | 61.8% | 58.5% |
Q4: For your own particular religious sect, do you know what kinds of procedures must be done for a funeral service? (Sample size=432)
| All | Male N=249 | Female N=183 | |
| Know most of it | 14.6% | 14.1% | 15.3% |
| Know some of it | 26.9% | 25.3% | 29.0% |
| Don’t know any of them | 58.6% | 60.6% | 55.7% |
Q5: Do your have money saved up for your own funeral service, cremation, etc? (Sample size=432)
| All | Male N=249 | Female N=183 | |
| Yes | 13.7% | 10.8% | 17.5% |
| No | 86.3% | 89.2% | 82.5% |
Q6: If one of your family were to pop their clogs suddenly, do you have someone close to you who you could turn to for advice on funeral preparations, financial issues, etc? (Sample size=432)
| All | Male N=249 | Female N=183 | |
| Yes | 61.6% | 59.8% | 63.9% |
| No (to SQ) | 38.4% | 40.2% | 36.1% |
Q6SQ: If one of your family were to pop their clogs suddenly, do you feel worried about not having someone close to you who you could turn to for advice on funeral preparations, financial issues, etc? (Sample size=166)
| All | Male N=100 | Female N=66 | |
| Very worried | 12.7% | 10.0% | 16.7% |
| A little worried | 42.8% | 40.0% | 47.0% |
| Not worried | 44.6% | 50.0% | 36.4% |
- whatjapanthinks.com
