How would one feel if one were to have corpses as
neighbours? Creepy or scary? Residents in an area in the Japanese city
of Kawasaki feel like they are living with the dead.
Many so-called corpse hotels
have emerged as a flourishing business in the city following a crunch
in crematoriums. Sousou, a building with a plain silver exterior and
black draped windows which the neighbours call "creepy", is one such
corpse hotel located in a quiet residential area of Kawasaki.People living in the neighbourhood are upset due to the presence of the morgue and have staged protests with placards and banners, Reuters reported.
A refurbished workshop, Sousou houses piles of dead bodies as the city's crematoriums fail to accommodate the rising need for burial space.
"Crematories need to be built, but there isn't any space to do so and that is creating funeral refugees," Hisao Takegishi, the owner of Sousou, was quoted as saying by Reuters. Takegishi started the morgue business in 2014.
Families can rent a room in Sousou on a daily charge of 9,000 Japanese yen (£58, €74, $84) to keep the body of the deceased relative for up to four days until they find a crematorium. The corpse hotel has around 10 rooms to rent out, where corpses are kept in air-conditioned rooms. Most other such corpse hotels in the city keep dead bodies under refrigeration.
Yoko
Masuzawa, 50, is among the residents who are upset by the presence of
the morgue in the locality. She lives just behind the morgue and
reportedly demanded Sousou's owner to put air ventilation grills above
ground level, but was ignored.
Meanwhile, people seeking refuge for their deceased relatives are grateful for
a place like Sousou. "I think it's great that families and
acquaintances can come and visit before she heads off to the
crematorium," 69-year-old Hirokazu Hosaka, whose mother's body was kept
in a decorated coffin in Sousou, was quoted as saying.
Encouraged by the overwhelming response to the business and
growing demand, Takegishi is planning to extend the concept to other
cities.
Government estimates show a rise in the death rate in Japan, with the
current death rate of over 20,000 deaths per year expected to rise to
about 1.7 million a year by 2040. The country is reportedly expected to
have 20 million fewer people by 2040, barring any major influx of
immigrants.
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