The odd sociology of cameraphone use at funerals in Japan:
Japan's obsession with camera-equipped mobile phones has taken a bizarre twist, with mourners at funerals now using the devices to capture a final picture of the deceased. "Some can't grasp 'reality' unless they take a photo and share it with others … It comes from a desire to keep a strong bond with the deceased," social commentator Toru Takeda told the paper.
Link to Reuters story (Thanks, Jeff)
Reader comment: ScottG In NYC says,
The piece on Japanese funeral phonecam photography hit an interesting note w/me on several personal levels. This sort of thing's been going on for years Down South, and the tradition's still still quite alive – folks did it at the funerals of both my grandmas in North Carolina last year and almost nobody batted an eye…save for my Queens-born fiancee! :) The same concepts and taste complaints the Japanese funeral directors stated in the piece have been echoed here in the US, as evidenced by these two informative articles: Link, and Link. And remember, in the days before photography, people made death masks of the deceased, so the concept of wanting to keep a last remembrance of a loved one's face has been around literally for centuries – this Japanese version is simply another update. Next thing ya know, it'll be 3D holograms and/or animations until we get that whole Kurweilian body-replacement-via-Singularity thing figured out.
Reader comment: Patrick Kubley says,
A few minutes after my father passed away last year, a couple of nurses came into the hospital room, slathered ink on his left hand and made an imprint of it onto five pillows that were to be given to immediate family members. Something my mom wanted to do for the grandkids who are too young to really remember my dad. It seemed weird and creepy to me, but I said nothing.
My pillow is packed away and I don't plan on bringing it out anytime soon. My sister, on the other hand, has hers displayed on a shelf in her living room, so whenever I'm over at her house I make it a point to keep my back to that pillow as much as possible. Don't know if it's because the pillow creeps me out a little, or if it's because seeing my dad's hand emblazoned is emotionally difficult to handle.
I realize this is probably mild compared with photographs and death masks, but from what I hear hand impressions of deceased persons is a common practice at hospitals.
