‘Depressed people in particular should come’: Funeral company in Japan opens café where customers can lay inside coffins

Funeral company in Japan has café allowing customers to lay inside coffins

A funeral company in Japan has started a café that allows their customers to lay down inside coffins to experience what it’ll be like.

According to The Mainichi, the company began offering this service in September as a way to encourage people to reflect on their lives.

Customers allowed unlimited time in coffins

The 120-year-old funeral company based in Chiba has encouraged people suffering from depression to visit its coffin café.

“While we want people to take pictures and have a lively experience, we also want people who are down or have hit a wall in their lives to enter the coffins,” said the company’s president.

He said he felt frustrated not being able to help his grieving customers who had lost their loved ones to suicide. He also added that he felt people would be able to reflect on their lives while inside the coffin and come out feeling refreshed.

I want them to feel that they can start their lives anew.

The café features three elaborate coffins made by a custom coffin maker who goes by “Grave Tokyo”. The company allows unlimited time inside the coffins and customers are free to photograph their experience.

Customers will have to make a reservation with a cost of just under S$20 for the coffin experience. So far, the company has received around 20 reservations, reportedly from mostly younger people.

Idea met with some criticism

The president also acknowledged that he is broaching a topic that is often taboo in Japan. However, thinking about death is inevitable while lying down inside a coffin.

“In the pitch-black darkness of the coffin, one can think about their remaining life and the final days of loved ones,” he said.

The concept has been met with some criticism. According to comments received in the article, netizens have said that it is “disrespectful” and a “bad omen”.

In response to his critics, the president said: “This is the result of thinking about what we could do as a funeral company.”

Also read: ‘Grandma, I hope you understand’: Family in the Philippines places coffin on ceiling amid Typhoon Trami flood

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