Toshihide Matsumoto permanently closed his family grave in June.
For the 65-year-old Hyogo Prefecture-native, 10 of his ancestors ¡ª including his sister and father ¡ª were buried in a local cemetery in the city of Himeji in a grave that had been in his family for centuries, but he decided it was time to part ways with it earlier this year.
¡°My mother used to tend the grave, but after she injured herself in 2019 she couldn¡¯t watch over it anymore,¡± he says. ¡°She agreed with the idea of closing the grave, and since I didn¡¯t want to put the burden on my child (in the future), I made the decision to close it up here and now.¡±
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