Saw a funeral in Tokyo where they burned incense instead of flowers and nobody talked about the cost

I was in Tokyo last spring for a pressure washing job near a temple and walked past a funeral procession. They were burning incense sticks instead of piling on flowers, which I thought was interesting, but what really got me was how the family barely spoke. Back home in Ohio we'd be crying and hugging everyone, but here it was all quiet and controlled. Later I found out some Japanese families don't talk about funeral costs at all, even with each other, because it's considered rude to discuss money during grief. Has anyone else run into a culture where the money side of death is totally off limits?

2 comments

2 Comments

charles_chen933d ago

Ngl that's basically financial trauma with extra steps.

paul_thompson673d ago

Honestly, that bit about not talking about funeral costs really got me. My uncle passed a few years back and my cousin spent weeks trying to figure out who paid for the plot because nobody in the family wanted to bring it up.