Save Aoyama Cemetery
Comments: 8
There was a story in the Yomiuri the other day (in Japanese) about removing graves from Aoyama Cemetery because no one’s paying the upkeep (¥590 per square metre per year) on the plots. Quite a few foreign graves have been marked for removal. A good friend was telling me this the other night and I was just amazed that a major city like Tokyo could contemplate erasing a slice of its history like that. Some of those foreigners helped build this country!
My friend, indefatigable (as is his partner), is determined to do something about it, and I’ve agreed to help him. Don’t be surprised if you get asked to contribute to an Aoyama Bochi preservation fund in the near future. We’re in the process of digging up what information we can from the department in charge of the cemetery, and I’m going to try to photograph every plot in the foreign section and link the pictures to what maps we can get.
Stay tuned for details.
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Posted to Oh, the Humanity • 2005.02.19 (Sat) • 22:47
Comments
Posted by brian w 2005.02.20, 02:30
Isn’t this a fairly common practice in urban cemetaries? I’ve read that they re-use graves at Pere-Lachaise in Paris, too.
Posted by em 2005.02.20, 09:13
kudos to you and your associates jeremy… perhaps even the those most effected by these possible transplantations will be most grateful. awaiting the next installment.
Posted by Steve Truett 2005.02.20, 09:32
Wow that is just really sad. Talk about screwed up priorities. Whats next? Corporate sponsors for the dead? Ya we could put advertisements on the tombstones, to pay for the plots LOL. (sarcasim intended)
Posted by dr Dave 2005.02.20, 16:31
Steve (and Jeremy),
While I agree with everybody that this is somewhat a sad situation, I think it would be good to keep in mind that there’s absolutely nothing typically Japanese or linked to modern capitalism in this practice… As Brian points out, this is done and has been done for ages in all major urban areas… In fact, if you walk in the center of Paris, chances are you are standing in the middle of one of the many cemeteries that were entirely removed in order to make room for residential areas (most of the bones where stuffed in a section of the Parisian catacombs).
I do not want to sound disparaging of your efforts by any means, Jeremy, but it can’t hurt to keep some perspective on this…
Posted by Grayson 2005.02.21, 03:51
I think the controversy arises because it sounds as only foreign graves are being marked for removal — in other words, it sounds like discrimination.
I could be wrong — I didn’t peruse the article terribly closely — but this sort of thing wouldn’t surprise me.
Posted by jh 2005.02.21, 11:55
The situation at the moment is that we just don’t know exactly what’s planned, what’s likely to happen, or even what’s being talked about. The article is ambiguous about the mix of foreign and Japanese graves involved.
My sense of it —- and this is just a guess right now —- is that while some Japanese graves may well be included, foreign graves might be higher in number because of the greater chance of ‘broken familial links’ (the families just aren’t around anymore to keep up the graves).
Since some of these graves may well be historic (and I think there’s something of an argument to be made that they’re all historic, in a sense, but let’s pursue that later), the issue of historical importance and how to deal with that comes into play.
There’s also the plan to convert a certain amount of several cemeteries into parks, but again, details are missing. The sense we get from the articles we’ve been able to find is that the government is short on the particulars of how this would actually occur, so that’s something we would want to keep an eye on and are researching, too.
So, to be clear, we’re very much in the information-gathering stage. No need for anyone to be chaining themselves to gravestones as the bulldozers roll in just yet!
We’re investigating how to establish some sort of trust or foundation whose ultimate goal is to preserve and maintain awareness of the expatriate community’s contribution to the development of Japan. It’s looking like the founding project of that trust will be to work with the relevant authorities in this case to ensure the heritage of the cemetery is respected and treated appropriately.
Posted by Mort Subite 2005.03.16, 11:51
Cemeteries are self-funded (dead people don?t vote - well not in most countries anyway). Governments don?t fund rather they set policy to enable operation. They are a modern cultural establishment (ie: 1800’s). Cemeteries are only as successful as the people who use them for interring their dead, remembering their relatives, and supporting the cemetery’s efforts to stay relevant to their community. If that?s mercenary - than its the society we all live (and die) in. I support my local cemetery, and not just with hollow words.
Posted by Bruce Carpenter 2005.05.26, 13:31
The grave fee at Aoyama is basically a perpetual rent. If you fail to pay your rent, then be prepared to be evicted.
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