Podcast in English 20210701 Old Age and Economy –Deep Dive of FCCJ

Hello everyone, today is July 1st, 2021.

My name is Yuusuke Wada, probably the only funeral business podcaster in Japan and also a death industry consultant. I am also the Researcher of the Reform of Death and I prepare for the End of Life Journey.

Podcast No. 29 of YEYSHONAN, a weekly podcast in English.
Sorry, I am one day late for the weekly podcast.

Last week I was at the funeral trade show in Yokohama. It was better that I imagined.
I’ll talk about this in a different episode.

**The ONLY Funeral Business Podcaster in Japan**

This morning, I was at The Foreign Correspondents Club of Japan (FCCJ) for an event called the Deep Dive, which is a task force organized by ex-presidents of FCCJ and a few members including myself. The topic was Japan’s economic recovery trajectory.

The panelists were Mr. Paul Sheard who is the research fellow at Harvard Kennedy School, Mr. Naoyuki Yoshino at professor at Keio, and Mr. Jesper Koll who is a venture capitalist, moderated by Mr. Anthony Rowley of Asia Economic.

From left, Prof. Yoshino, Mr. Anthony Rowley, Mr. Jesper Koll, and attending from NY, Mr. Paul Sheard on screen.

One of the issues discussed was that the old aged society is pulling our legs in the workforce. These government expenditures on welfare could be put to a better use. The idea of prolonging the retirement age and wages based on productivity should precede seniority in the company.

The workforce in Japan switches jobs due to NOT the enhancement of their careers but due to human relationships at work, such as not liking the Bucho or Kacho at all. These are all negative impacts. The engineers are in silos and do not go out meeting others.

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閑話休題：FCCJでの上映会「アジアの天使」

ネタバレを避けるために色々と割愛しますが、昨夜、日本外国特派員協会の試写会にはじめて参加してきました。
私は映画を見るのが大の苦手です。そこに座っているのが苦痛なんです（早送りが出来ないw）
学生以来、映画館に入ったのは1度きり。
しかもうちの子が幼稚園児のときにクレヨンしんちゃんを見たいとのことで、それを見に、今は無き藤沢の映画館へ。

今回の作品は、上映委員会のKarenさんに再度つながるためでもあった。
委員長どおしでも、過去にあまり会話をしたことがなかったのと、今回はエンディング産業展で知り合った湯浅監督の日本・スペイン合作の映画「KAORU’s Funeral」の上映の打診があったからだ。

さて、今回の映画の宣伝をします（笑）

この映画は日本人監督、石井裕也氏が韓国人プロデューサーとスタッフにて、韓国にて撮影しました。
コロナ禍で苦労されたと。結局、編集は日本で行ったと。
この映画は、2組の家族が偶然に出会って、それぞれの思いをいだきながら旅をして天使に出会う。
その天使とは・・・

上映が2021年7月2日、テアトル新宿をはじめとし、全国で放映されます。
本来は韓国で先に上映予定でしたが、あちらの映画館事情、日本よりコロナ対策が厳しく未だにオープンできず日本上映が先になりました。

韓国が嫌いな人でも、人間として日本人家族、韓国人家族、しかも同じ病気で愛する家族を失ったことで絆が強くなり、微笑ましい場面もあり、見ても損はないなって。
ハリウッド映画に慣れた我々はアクションない、テンポもマッタリ、ナニこのご時世にスマホも使えないの？っていう人たち（そういう設定）の映画でイラってしますが、これがまた珍道中を生む。

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昨年飛ばしたフューネラルビジネスフェア開催

本日、パシフィコ横浜にてフューネラルビジネスフェアが開催されました。

私としては、実は2周間前のエンディング産業展もありましたが、そこで出会った人たちだけではなく、昨年や一昨年にフューネラルビジネスフェア2019やエンディング産業展2020、2021で出会った人たちと会う場所でもありました。

いわゆる同窓会みたいなものでもありました。

https://yeyshonan.com/japanese-funeral/funeral-biz-2021/

大切なことは続けることです。

今、葬儀業界がジリ貧状態になりつつあります。

単価アップだけでは救えない業界です。
単価アップしたら次がないという状況にもあります。

どうやったらお客様に喜んでいただけるか考える必要があります。

お葬式の価値は何かを説明せずに単価アップはカローラに1000万も支払うような状態でもあるのかな？
別に払いたければ払ってもよいのですが、同じものがもっと格安で入手できてなぜ、その金額？ってのを考える必要があります。

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Podcast in English 20210623 Funeral Biz Fair in Yokohama

Podcast No. 28 in English

Hello everyone, today is June 23rd, 2021.
My name is Yuusuke Wada, currently the only funeral business podcaster and a consultant in Japan.
Researcher of Reform of Death and I prepare for the End of Life Journey.

Podcast No. 28 of YEYSHONAN, a weekly podcast in English.

Today’s talk is on the next funeral business trade show in Yokohama.

This event has been going on for the past 25 years but last year, due to COVID-19 crisis, the organizers had to cancel the event, so this will be the 24th event.

Just like the previous event 2 weeks ago, please pre-register.

The **ONLY Funeral Business Podcaster in Japan** now

I’ll post it on the blog.
https://f-vr.jp/sogo-unicom/funeral_fair/

Due to COVID-19 crisis, many funeral parlors have decided to go online with their services. Companies like Life Ending Technologies have been marketing non-zoom methods of online funerals.

All you need is a mediocre spec PC and a webcam, and not to forget, an adequate internet speed but not necessarily extreme high speed.
3~5 Mbps will do.

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Podcast in English 20210616 Aquamation

Hello everyone, today is June 16th, 2021.

My name is Yuusuke Wada, I’m your host, a funeral business podcaster and a funeral consultant in Japan.
Also a Researcher of Reform of Death and I prepare for the End of Life Journey.

Podcast No. 27 of YEYSHONAN, a weekly podcast in English.

Today’s talk is a continuation of last week, the 3 day event of the ending industry expo in Tokyo.

According to the official announcement, the total participants were 12,634 people.
But these are the people who registered for the event but there were other events simultaneously and people were able to attend any of them with one ticket. Therefore, there were more.

Last year, the number was about 13,900 people.

This year, from the 2nd and 3rd day, there were people from other events attending and there seemed to be more than last year.
What I found out recently, there were people who were interested in different kinds of burial or basically, alternatives to cremation.

In the USA, there is natural decomposition and even “aquamation” which uses alkaline-hydrolysis using alkaline based liquid.
In Japan, the only solution is cremation.

What is “aquamation”?

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エンディング産業展2021の報告

開けてみたら、昨年11月と大差ない人数でした。
もしかしたら、A棟で開催されていた「カフェ・レストラン」展の人たちやウェルネス・ジャパンの人たちはノーカウントだから、去年よりも来場者は多いかも知れないですね。

https://yeyshonan.com/japanese-funeral/ending_industry2021/

ENDEX 2021

なんとか無事に終了しました。
後ほど、ビデオとか編集してアップしたいと思います。

Podcast in English 20210609 ENDEX2021

Hello everyone. Today is June 9th, 2021.

My name is Yuusuke Wada.
Today’s talk is about the Ending Industry Expo in Tokyo Big Sight.
I’m your host Yuusuke Wada, funeral business podcaster of Japan

Starting today, ENDEX has started and will be held until Friday 5PM at Tokyo Big Sight Aomi Exhibition B Hall.
B Hall is the far away exhibition hall and it’s far!

Please make sure that you are pre-registered.
It’ll make you exempt from the entrance fee.

Today, I met a young artist.
He uses ashes from the bones and mixes it with the paint.
He uses 3 grams of ashes sent by the survived family and uses it for the painting for them.
People in Japan might not accept it easily but this is another way of mourning.
He draws mostly abstract images but he will draw anything.
I told him that he should output his work more towards outside of Japan.
The market is bigger than Japan.

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