For ¥25,000 ($236) Japanese people can pay a virtual visit to a grave, from the comfort of their home
, the living commemorate them with offerings of food at altars, gather for festivals, and perform collective dances known as. Many stream back to their home towns to be with family and visit cemeteries to pay respects to their dead. “Graves are a place to talk,” says Yamazaki Masako of Zenyuseki, a tombstone carvers’ trade association.
This year covid-19 has upset the routine. Japan’s viral caseload is relatively small, with just 1,148 total deaths, roughly America’s daily average. But a recent rise in infections, especially in big cities such as Tokyo and Osaka, has spread the jitters. Citizens have been discouraged from travelling home and festivals have been cancelled. Family reunions have been held online to protect vulnerable elderly relatives.
Failure to visit grave-sites creates “a different type of stress—different from not being able to travel”, laments Ms Yamazaki. To help relieve the pain of missing those obligations to the past, her association turned to futuristic technology. For ¥25,000 it will produce a virtual-reality experience to let you visit a grave from the comfort of your home. “You can see it from all directions, 360 degrees,” boasts Ms Yamazaki. “It’s like you’re actually there.
Others have hired proxies to visit the dead on their behalf. With Japan’s population ageing and urbanising, online graveyard visits and tombstone-cleaning services were already doing brisk business. Goendo, one such firm, says inquiries and website traffic have doubled this year. Its agents can be hired to weed, pick up rubbish, wash tombstones, arrange flowers and light incense sticks—then live-stream it all for families by video-chat.
. First practised in Japan in the seventh century, the custom fused with local folk traditions.
United States Latest News, United States Headlines
Similar News:You can also read news stories similar to this one that we have collected from other news sources.
Latin America Covid-19 death toll tops 250,000 mark – latest updatesLatin America virus death toll tops 250,000 mark. More Covid19 updates: 🇯🇵 Japan to ease entry curbs on foreigners with resident visas 🇺🇸 US Sen. Cassidy tests positive 🇦🇺 Australia's Victoria reports lowest rise in cases in five weeks Fore more:
Read more »
Cotton masks won't protect you from wildfire smoke that can worsen Covid-19 symptoms, doctors warnFires burning across California and Colorado are pumping out smoke that would be bad enough on its own, but might also worsen coronavirus symptoms, doctors are warning
Read more »
Segregated parks linked to higher COVID-19 deaths for Black and Latino AmericansExperts have long called for Black and Latino neighborhoods to have better access to parks to improve community health. Coronavirus highlights that.
Read more »
Scientists Are Optimistic That COVID-19 Immunity Will Last — Here's WhyCoronavirus antibodies and crucial white blood cells are lingering in the body after infection, and scientists believe that's good news for immunity.
Read more »
World Bank: Covid-19 will push up to 100M people into extreme povertyWorld Bank President David Malpass says poor countries will not be in a better position to deal with the debt payments even if advanced economies suspend them.
Read more »
What Will Happen When There\u2019s a COVID-19 Vaccine?In an exclusive Prevention survey, 57% of respondents said they would get a COVID-19 vaccine as soon as it’s available. Here's why that's not enough.
Read more »