Photo for Funeral Before You’re Gone

Funeral-services providers are offering photography services so you’ll have a decent photo to display at your funeral ceremony. Photography studios are also targeting the new funeral-photo market.

A headshot of the deceased is usually on display at the start of funeral ceremonies in Japan. A different photo of the deceased – often a wedding photo – is displayed when the bereaved express condolences.

Kinoshita Inc operates 16 funeral parlors in Fukuoka and Saga prefectures. "Photos are shown at funerals to recall the deceased. If a variety of photos are displayed, participants in the funerals can recognize their personal characters more deeply," Masaru Ishikawa, 56, an executive of the company, told the Asahi Shimbun.

Translation: You have a higher risk of contracting disease as you reach old age. Or contracting a severe illness. You will lose teeth and your face will change. We welcome you to take a vibrant photo at age sixty, in your favorite style. For example, people who like golf can wear golf clothes. Kimono-lovers can wear kimono. And people who like to cook could wear one of their favorite aprons.

This photo studio advises taking a picture every 5 years until age forty, and then every 2-3 years after forty, in order to have an up-to-date photo if you die.

Terukazu Mori, 46, representative director of Kumamoto Resident Funerals, said, "If you prepare the photo (in advance), you can enjoy your remaining life without worry. Taking the photo is one of the things you should do for that purpose."

These suggest you have a picture taken so survivors don’t have to search for a good picture after you’re dead.

photos: Eternal photo; blue kimono; Ikeda Shashinkan; couple; gray suit.