[/floatl]Asahi: Family plot
What's a city to do when its public cemeteries are packed to capacity and its citizens are clamoring for convenient yet affordable plots? Osaka, the nation's second largest metropolis, may have found the answer: Group interment. City rules governing where cemeteries can be set up, coupled with residents' reluctance at having them in the neighborhood, mean it is next to impossible to open new sites in urban areas...To address these needs, Osaka is gearing up to create a "group interment" cemetery. In contrast to traditional cemeteries and their neatly arranged plots with headstones carved with the family name, the group cemetery will house thousands of cremation urns in a special repository where they will be kept for 10 to 20 years before being moved underground for final interment...Putting ashes to rest will cost from 50,000 to 100,000 yen. A cheaper, direct-interment option will also be available. The city projects a 60-year serviceable life for the facility. After which it will be entombed to form a burial mound...more...
