More Japanese Choosing Fertilizer as Burial Option

A Forest cemetery is a new style of internment has been gaining popularity in

traditional Japan. In a forest cemetery you choose a tree instead of a headstone. One of
the eight forest cemeteries currently in operation is located within Tokyos Kodairareien
Cemetery. Magnolias, dogwoods, Japanese maples, summer camellias, and silk trees
have been planted on the grounds, with communal burial areas located underneath.
Ashes are buried directly in the soil so a persons body can be quickly welcomed back
into the ecosystem. Its possible to reserve a spot for each or a bereaved family can
also apply.

Japans Grave Situation

Every August, Japans cemeteries and graveyards come alive the Festival of the
Dead called Obon. It is a time when ancestors who have passed away are believed to
return for a brief visit. But with the living crowded into just about every last nook and
cranny in Tokyo, the ancient Buddhist festival is forcing many to face an uncomfortable
fact of modern life - that for those in need of a final resting place, the situation is, well,
quite grave.
Over the next week, tens of millions of Japanese will visit their family plots for the
"Obon" festival, one of the most important celebrations on the Japanese calendar. The
festival has become synonymous with summer vacation, and many of the country's
businesses will close down until it is over. Obon is generally a time to be enjoyed. Late
night outdoor dances and fairs are held, and young men and women dress up in
traditional Japanese-style kimono to partake in time-honored rituals: They catch goldfish
and play a game in which blindfolded participants try to break a watermelon with a stick.
But there is no doubt that Obon's centerpiece - its graveyards - are in the throes
of a serious crisis.
The main problem is space, particularly in the greater Tokyo area, where about
one-fifth of Japanese live.
"Unless you plan on waiting or have a lot of money to spend, your only choice is
to look for a cemetery outside Tokyo," said Masaru Fujikura, a 70-year-old retiree.
According to a recent book called "Graves: What Will You Do?," the cremated remains
of as many as one million Tokyoites are being kept at home by families who are for
various reasons unable to make suitable arrangements. Many are simply waiting for a

plot. Tokyo has eight city-operated graveyards, but only four of them have any
openings. This year, there were five applicants for each available plot, and the winners
were chosen by lottery.

Eight metropolitan cemeteries

Four of the metropolitan cemeteries, Aoyama, Zoshigaya, Somei and Yanaka,
are located in the district area. The Tokyo Metropolitan Government plans to turn these
facilities into places which serve both as cemetery and park so that a wider range of
people can benefit from them. Revitalization projects are ongoing at some of the
cemeteries, where public mausoleums and open areas have been built in spaces
created through the relocation of graves.
The other four cemeteries, Tama, Kodaira, Hachioji and Yahashira, are park
cemeteries situated in suburban areas. These cemeteries provide lots and niches
including new types of interment spaces, which helps them make efficient use of their
spaces and maintain the scenic nature of the park cemeteries.
Tokyo Metropolitan Parks Council compiled a report on the future provision and
maintenance of interment spaces in metropolitan cemeteries, in which it proposed that
the facilities provide a forest cemetery and tree cemetery, where cremated remains
are buried and covered with soil to satisfy the wish of peacefully returning to nature after
death, as well as compact and landscape-sensitive burial lots, which are small but
collectively look beautiful and blend in well with the surroundings.

FIVE ELEMENTS REPRESENTING BUDDHISM

Earth
Water
Fire
Wind
Sky

Use these elements to represent different spaces within the vertical

cemetery and types of interment (traditional or in an innovative way)

ELEMENTS

Earth

Water

KEYWORDS/REPRESENTATION/CONCEPTS
Burial ground (for Japanese who preferred burying the dead on the
ground)
Forest/Tree Cemetery a new style of interment where ashes are
buried directly in the soil so as a persons body can be quickly
welcomed back into ecosystem.
Typical columbarium
Memorial Chapel

Other common spaces

Souvenir shops

BRIDG
E

The water feature will serve

space.

as a wall of a specific

Fire

Fire = light/Japanese lantern

Instead of light bulbs, Japanese lantern-like lights are used.
(see http://www.designboom.com/project/sky-light/)

Wind

bamboo chimes
The bamboo chimes will
sway through the
pressurized air, only when
the visitor/s swipe the card.

Wind

Sky

Sky garden
Reflection spaces