"Take Back the Ashes..." Troubled Japanese Urban Columbarium Becomes a Headache

Increase of 30% in Columbariums Operated by Japanese Religious Corporations Over 20 Years
Rapid Growth in Major Cities Due to Private Companies' Indirect Entry
Religious Corporations Bankrupt, Notifying "Retrieve Your Ashes"

The rapidly increasing number of urban columbaria in Japan has become a headache. Due to excessive competition, some columbaria have gone out of business, leading to cases where bereaved families were told to "take back the ashes."

According to the Asahi Shimbun on the 9th, the Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare of Japan reported that the number of "columbaria operated by religious corporations" reached 9,466 as of 2021. This represents an increase of more than 30% over the past 20 years. In particular, in major cities such as Tokyo and Osaka, the numbers surged by 50% and 250%, respectively, during the same period.

As large columbaria have competitively increased in urban areas, their side effects are now emerging. Some columbaria have closed due to worsening management. Recently, the columbarium "Mitamado Motomachi" located in downtown Sapporo reportedly notified users to "take their ashes back."

This columbarium, housed in a four-story building, sold 770 columbarium spaces for 300,000 to 2.5 million yen (approximately 3 million to 25 million KRW). The religious corporation Hakuhoji, which operated the columbarium, faced financial difficulties and defaulted on debts last October, marking its 10th year since establishment. Consequently, the building and land were auctioned off and acquired by a real estate company, transferring ownership.

With the closure of the building, users of the columbarium faced an absurd situation where they could not even enter the premises, let alone hold memorial services. A user in their late 60s who entrusted their granddaughter's ashes 8 years ago for 1.2 million yen (about 12 million KRW) is protesting against the religious corporation's notice to "take them back." The newspaper reported that "about 50 sets of ashes still remain."

According to the newspaper, besides Sapporo, columbaria in Fukui Prefecture and Sendai City have also closed one after another due to financial difficulties. In Japan, where condolence culture is well developed, the successive closures of large urban columbaria could potentially escalate into a social issue.

There is a commonality among these bankrupt columbaria. They were established in a form where private companies such as funeral businesses lent money for building construction or purchase costs to religious corporations lacking funds. This is because Japan does not allow private companies to directly operate columbaria. Instead, only local governments, religious corporations, or public interest corporations are permitted to establish and operate them, leading private companies to circumvent this by "lending funds."

Meanwhile, in Japan, preferences for urban columbaria are increasing due to low birth rates, urbanization, and aging population. Especially with the COVID-19 pandemic causing a significant rise in deaths, it is analyzed that more people who could not hold traditional funerals have cremated bodies and placed ashes in columbaria.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.