Lie in a coffin, reflect on life: Funeral home offers morbid experience in Japan

Cafes are a popular haunt in countries across the world. Several of them have themes which people enjoy, making them a hit. A unique cafe, called the "coffin cafe" has come up in Japan. It has been started by a 120-year-old funeral home.

The experience calls for people to lie in a casket and reflect on life and death. The funeral home, Kajiya honten, based in Futtsu, recently started the cafe in collaboration with a funeral supply company. The funeral home was founded in 1902 during the Meiji era.

Launched in September, the cafe offers visitors three options in coffins – gold, green and yellow, SCMP reported. The coffins have floral patterns and creative motifs on them which are believed to make the experience more comfortable for those who wish to lie inside them and reflect.

It is located on the first floor of the funeral home's main building. It was also important for the company to ensure that visitors to the cafe did not come across other funeral attendees. So it has been built away from the funeral hall.

While you would think it is a morbid experience, people of the city seemed to have lapped it up. To lie down in one of the coffins, one has to shell out 2,200 yen (US$14). But despite the cost, visitors have been thronging the cafe and couples even take pictures together lying in them.

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The experience is also aimed at getting people to reflect on their lives and how they would want to live. Kiyotaka Hirano, the company’s 48-year-old president, says he was inspired to open the cafe after he lost his father.

Coffin cafe has become popular

“While most young people think about weddings, few consider funerals. However, everyone can approach this experience differently. Some may want to close the coffin lid for a few minutes to contemplate how they’d like to live before their time comes,” Hirano said.

“The experience also provides an opportunity to re-evaluate your relationships with family and loved ones,” he added.

Hirano believes people might view the experience as “lively” and “renewing”. He added that when one comes out of the coffin, it can "symbolise a rebirth, a reset of one’s life".

The company was in the news two years back for introducing a service called the “memorial urn”. It allows clients to design their own urns.