Market for pet funerals expands as owners opt for burials

The market for pet funerals is expanding as owners increasingly opt for cremations and entombing of the ashes, but the lack of a legal framework is causing trouble over crematoriums and funeral service fees.

Final bow: A woman bows in front of a tombstone during a funeral ceremony for a pet at Shofukuji Temple in Nishi Ward, Osaka, recently. KYODO PHOTO

"Could you put these 'children' and me in the same grave?" a woman in her 70s in the city of Chiba asked her son and his wife, referring to her two pet dogs.

According to the Japan Pet Food Association, there were 26.84 million pet dogs and cats in Japan in fiscal 2008, compared with 17.14 million people under the age of 15.

Fuji Keizai Co., a market research company, said about 35,500 pet dogs and cats were cremated in 2008, and the number is expected to increase 8 percent to 10 percent annually in the future.

One facility in Tokyo is now marketing graves where pets' ashes can be placed, helping to build and expand the pet cemetery market.

JPR Corp., a consulting firm in Yokohama, estimated that the pet funeral and cemetery market is worth more than ¥12 billion.

But it is not easy to choose the right operators.

One expert said that there are 1,000 private operators across the country and that it is difficult to get a clear picture of the industry.

The most popular form of funeral service is cremation. Municipalities cremate animals for several thousand yen, but many do not return the remains.

Private operators send cremation vehicles to private residences and return the pet's ashes. The price is generally tens of thousands of yen but depends on the weight of the animal.

The National Consumer Affairs Center of Japan said, "You may be charged hefty fees or offered services different from what you expected. You should confirm the content of the contract in writing."

On the other hand, proper memorial services are boasted as having a healing effect on sorrow and on "animal loss syndrome." To cope with the rise in pet cremation requests, about 45 organizations encompassing chief priests, cremation companies and stone dealers, set up the Pet Memorial Conference in 2008.

Ryugen Tanaka, chief priest at Chofukuji Temple in Hirakata, Osaka Prefecture, and head of the conference, said, "Temples are also perplexed by growing moves to cremate pets.

"The conference has reviewed the holy scriptures of Buddhism so that a sutra can be shortened for animals because they are purely departing with no earthly desires," he said.

"We have decided on a rough funeral-service standard cremation expense (about ¥30,000) and a ¥20,000 offering."

Quite a few people are reluctant to have cremation facilities in their neighborhood, and local governments are increasingly asking operators to work out guidelines in order not to disturb the environment near such facilities.

But there is no law directly regulating such operators and it is difficult to nip trouble in the bud.