As everyone knows, Japan will soon have the largest cohort of seniors in the country¡¯s history, a demographic that promises to sap social services. But there¡¯s another related problem no one is talking about: These people will go on to die, and in very large numbers.
According to the Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare, 1.3 million Japanese died in 2015, the most in a single year since the end of World War II. This number will continue to increase, exceeding 1.6 million by 2030 and peaking at 1.669 million in 2040. That¡¯s a lot of corpses to manage, and a sideshow of the demographic crisis is that there aren¡¯t enough facilities available to ¡°process¡± these bodies. Japan does not have enough crenother new trend affecting the funeral industry called jmatoria, or °ì²¹²õ¨²ú²¹.
The simplest solution is to build more, and that¡¯s not a problem in rural areas, but in heavily populated cities it is difficult to secure land, and not just because it¡¯s more expensive. Regulations and the sentiments of residents figure heavily in granting permits to build crematoria and funeral homes, and most people don¡¯t want to live next to them. In addition, anyone who invests in a crematorium or funeral home has to look to the future, and after 2040 the number of deaths will start to drop.
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