Danny Choo is a guestblogger on Boing Boing. Danny resides in Tokyo, and blogs about life in Japan and Japanese subculture – he also works part time for the empire.



This is a picture of a typical Japanese graveyard. The norm is that a family buys some land and then builds a tomb to fit the rest of the family. G'ma, G'pa, mom, pop and yourself get to spend the rest of eternity together – at a cost.

The most expensive tombs I've been able to find costs 109,908 USD at the Aoyama cemetery. That 109,908 USD gets you about 3.4 square meters.

The funeral will cost a bomb too and the most expensive I've been able to find is 23,408 USD at kakaku.com – but you get great drinks and enough food for up to 30 family members and 70 guests who come to pay their respects. I guess there are ways to make (lots of) money even from dead folks.

In general, families have the choice of burning or burying their members.

When you die, how would you like to go?

My wife and I have decided to donate our organs and folks in Japan can register here if you want to do so too.

Photo plucked from my weekly A Week in Tokyo series.