Japan’s Buddhist temples are going out of business

From the Economist.com
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...In 1950 the Temple of the Golden Pavilion in Kyoto was burned down by a schizophrenic monk who adored the place.

Today’s temples, by contrast, are fading away in a puff of indifference.

Japanese people are growing less religious, and less numerous, every year.

You might think that funerals would keep modern temples busy.

Nearly 1.3m people died last year in Japan (a post-war record); Buddhism has for centuries been the religion of choice at funerals and in spiritual care for the bereaved.

But with costs often in the region of ¥3m ($24,700), funerals in Japan are among the priciest in the world.

Cremation is followed by a ritual in which the bereaved use chopsticks to pluck the charred bones of their loved ones from a tray and place them in an urn.

A priest mumbles incantations and bestows a posthumous name. It’s all rather elaborate.

So cheaper alternatives are becoming increasingly popular... 

Many families are opting to scatter ashes in forests or oceans, or even send them by post to collective graves.

The Koukokuji Buddhist Temple in Tokyo runs an automated indoor cemetery packed with over 2,000 small altars storing the ashes of the deceased.

That helps their families avoid the expense and inconvenience of a remote country plot. A website lists prices, options and walking distances to local train stations...
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Link:http://www.economist.com/news/asia/21677261-japans-buddhist-temples-are-going-out-business-temples-doom