What started as a quirky offer from a funeral home in Japan’s Chiba Prefecture has blossomed into a full-blown trend among zen-seekers. “Coffin-lying” — the practice of meditating inside a coffin — is giving people safe, although claustrophobic, space to contemplate their mortality or to just recharge. While coffin lounges might sound gimmicky to Americans, the concept of kuyō, which translates to “memorial service,” is a well-established part of Japanese culture, and helps explain the national tradition of embracing the fragility of life and the beauty of death. Businesses promoting their coffin-lying services have said this kind of meditation is useful for people who want to spend time alone to ease their nerves. The trend has officially grown big enough that there are different coffin options to accommodate different personalities. If a plain, wooden box doesn’t calm your nervous system, perhaps you’ll find the “cute coffins” at a newly opened Tokyo spa, Meiso Kukan Kanoke-in, more soothing. Designed by a company called Grave Tokyo, these colorfully decorated caskets are meant to facilitate “a meditation experience where you can gaze at life through being conscious of death” in style. Customers have options for how they want their 30-minute, $13 session to go. Naturally, there’s the choice between an open or closed casket, but they can also opt for “healing” tunes, a video projected on the ceiling, or total silence and stillness. “Before choosing a death that cannot be reversed, I want them to experience a death that can be reversed,” said custom coffin-maker Mikako Fuse.
