気ままなリライト３０

迫る「多死社会」に備え 首都圏、対策急ピッチ

Toward the age when a growing number of departed people is expected, especially in the Tokyo Metropolitan area with high concentrations of the aging population, municipalities in the area are ready to anticipate the worst-case scenario. Some municipalities are working hard to figure out how to give peace of mind to departed souls as it is hard for most residents to find the final resting places of their own or their loved ones. Others are encouraging residents to make plans for the end of life to depart this life peacefully without leaving problems behind after death.
 
According to government-run research on population problems, in 2040 when baby boomers will get old beyond the average life expectancy, the number of the departed is projected at nearly 1.68 million, a 20 % increase, compared with the number in 2018 while the number of births is projected to hit only 0.74 million.
 
Many municipalities in Saitama, Chiba and Kanagawa Prefectures have been struggling to handle a growing number of departed people in funeral halls and crematoriums. With a sense of crisis triggered by the projection of a future increase in the number of the departed, a funeral service company in Odawara City, Kanagawa Prefecture increased the number of crematoriums from six to nine to respond to increasing requests for cremation. In Chiba Prefecture, in addition to a funeral hall with its boosted cremation capacity constructed in October 2019 in Funabashi City, another funeral hall was built in Narashino City to deal with a rapidly growing aging population in the area.
 
A land shortage for graves has haunted Saitama City, Saitama Prefecture due to a skyrocketing number of deaths. The city reconstructed a city-run cemetery with common graves holding 16,000 urns under trees to save a land space in 2019. That, however, was a drop in the bucket. The city plans to relocate the ashes in the abandoned graves with no relatives to visit to the common graves in the city-run cemetery to make up for a land shortage for graves.
 
Komae City, Tokyo is encouraging elderly residents to boost their mental preparedness by planning for the end of life. The city is distributing a notebook for mental preparedness to encourage elderly residents to write down what they want or don’t want their family members to do after death or in critical condition. A city official says to each elderly resident, “Write down your cherished memories in younger days in the notebook and put yourself in a positive mindset by reminding yourself of how special you are because you are who you are.”