Burial Culture Association Chairman's Greetings

Currently in Japan, 1.5 million people die every year, and 99.97% of them are cremated. Misconceptions such as "burial is not possible, it is against the law, there are no cemeteries to bury them in, and the procedures are complicated and expensive" are widespread, and when their relative is cremated and their ashes are burned, there are quite a few bereaved families who think "Poor thing, it must be so hot; I don't want to be burned." However, cremation is a systematized system, and before you know it, your loved one's ashes will be returned home in a small urn, without even having the chance to remember their friendship with that person.

On the one hand, I understand that burial is not a violation and there are cemeteries that will accept it, and yet choosing cremation as a final farewell ritual is a matter of personal freedom. On the other hand, I feel sad that people are cremated without knowing about burial, which is a gentle farewell that commemorates the person's life, allows their soul to remain, and allows them to talk to each other.

Furthermore, there are currently no burial cemeteries in the Tohoku, Hokuriku, Chukyo, Shikoku, Kyushu and Okinawa regions of Japan, so we wanted to help religious corporations that were considering opening burial cemeteries in a legitimate way, rather than using illegal methods such as lending their names. This organization was formed by volunteers who wanted to raise awareness of burials.

Compared to cremation, which consumes huge amounts of petroleum resources and goes against global warming and CO2 reduction, we would like to promote eco-friendly burial in Japan's abundant forests, and ask for your understanding.