Introduction: Making One's Death, Dying and Disposal in Contemporary Japan Hikaru Suzuki Part 1: Meaning of Life and Dying in Contemporary Japan 1. Death and 'The Pursuit of a Life Worth Living' in Japan Gordon Mathews 2. Dying in Japan: In to the Hospital and Out Again? Susan Orpett Long 3. Sarariiman Suicides in Heisei Japan Sawa Kurotani Part 2: Professionalization of Funerals 4. Working of Funeral Homes: Between Dignity of Death and Commercialism in Work for the Dead Daisuke Tanaka 5. Funeral-While-Alive as Experiential Transcendence Hikaru Suzuki 6. Contemporary Transformation of Japanese Death Ceremonies Haruyo Inoue Part 3: New Burial Practices in Japan 7. Beyond Ancestor Worship: Continued Relationship with Significant Others Iwayumi Suzuki 8. Life Course and New Death Rites in Japan: The Loss of Comrades in the Second World War and the Choice of Ash Scattering Satsuki Kawano 9. An Anthropological Study of a Japanese Tree Burial: Environment, Kinship and Death Sebastien Boret 10. Disaster and Death in Japan: Responses to the Flight JL123 Crash Christopher P. Hood Epilogue Hikaru Suzuki