Growing numbers of Japanese are taking a leaf out of the books of ancient Vikings, choosing to cremate their departed loved ones on crematorium ships -- and getting a cruise out of it, to boot, according to Sunday Mainichi (4/27).

Cramped living conditions, huge waiting lists for graves and increasingly high burial costs have made death a real pain in the ass for a lot of Japanese.

But the Nippon Foundation has come up with what it feels is the answer with the Somaru, a 26-ton ship with a car ferry, ceremony hall and four crematoriums built in to it.

"Having a cremation at sea is definitely one option available to bereaved families," funeral consultant Mitsuko Kikkawa tells Sunday Mainichi. "Funerals in recent years have changed from being ceremonies that didn't reflect the lifestyle or hobbies of the departed to one more in tune with the things they liked while alive. And there is also a growing number of people who want to restrict funerals to private, family oriented services. Cremation ships are wonderfully apt places for providing that sort of therapeutic state."

Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare figures show there were about 1.08 million deaths in Japan in 2006, the latest year statistics are available. But that figure is almost double the number of deaths of 40 years previous.

But while more people are dying than ever before, there are increasingly fewer places that can deal with their stiffs, with the number of crematoriums dropping from a 1952 peak of 26,089 to just 4,899 in 2006.

There are distinct advantages to cremations on cruise ships. They don't require construction costs, nor do they need land, while their mobility helps counter the regular opposition that comes from residents of areas slated for crematorium construction. As the number of deaths decreases, a distinct possibility once Japan's rapidly aging population starts dying out, demand for their services will also go down, but instead of a normal crematorium being left to decay, the ships can be sold for scrap when they're no longer needed.

Despite demand for crematorium ships being greatest in the densely populated capital area, no municipal governments currently have plans to follow the Nippon Foundation into the ship crematorium caper.

It could be a wise move, according to funeral expert Itaru Takeda, who says that crematorium ships, which scatter the ashes of the departed at sea, may well spark as much ire as fire and the idea should be put on the backburner.

"The idea of funeral ships came up once before, back in 1920. But there was so much opposition from fishermen and people living near ports the idea was shelved,” Takeda tells Sunday Mainichi. "Unless people gain a deep understanding of exactly what is involved with crematoriums, the fundamental problem of dealing with human remains will stay unsolved." (By Ryann Connell)