Conceptualizations of Death in a Commercial Context: The Funeral Business in Present-Day Japan

Abstract

In this study I explore how practices and creativity in the commercial context conceptualize death in the changing styles of funerals by depicting the supply of contemporary funeral services. The cases are primarily based on ethnographic accounts derived from my fieldwork in Japanese funeral homes. I focus on the work and efforts of the funeral industry that make innovative services to shape and shift a set of cultural values and practices in the funerals of today.

Citation

Tanaka, D. (2006), "Conceptualizations of Death in a Commercial Context: The Funeral Business in Present-Day Japan", Wood, D.C. (Ed.) Choice in Economic Contexts (Research in Economic Anthropology, Vol. 25), Emerald Group Publishing Limited, Leeds, pp. 173-197. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0190-1281(06)25008-X