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Celebrating life after death: the appearance of snapshots in Japanese pet gravesites

2003; Taylor & Francis; Volume: 18; Issue: 2 Linguagem: Inglês

10.1080/14725860310001632047

1472-5878

Richard Chalfen,

Memory, Trauma, and Commemoration

Abstract This paper examines the content, display and communicative value of snapshot photographs found in Japanese pet cemeteries and identified as doubutsu no haka no shashin (animal grave pictures). A case study from Jindaiji Pet Cemetery in Tokyo explores how ordinary people illustrate Berger's anthropomorphization theme through observed relationships between family photography, pet-extended families, memory and beliefs in the afterlife of both humans and their animal companions. Evidentiary values and pictorial features of personal pictures of domestic animals are discussed and related to Japanese society and culture, to home media, vernacular photography and visual culture. Acknowledgements All photographs were taken by the author or seminar participants. I wish to extend a sincere note of thanks to collaborators: Yoko Katsuyama, Makiko Nishihashi, Tomoko Kawai, Toshika Fukutomi and Maki Deleat. I also wish to acknowledge more recent assistance from Randall Graczyk and Yuri Ouchi Stevens. They all taught me a great deal. Notes Richard Chalfen is Professor of Visual Anthropology at Temple University in Philadelphia and Temple University Japan in Tokyo. He is author of Snapshot Versions of Life (1987), Turning Leaves (1991) and the second edition of Through Navajo Eyes (with Sol Worth and John Adair, 1997). 1Understandably, many readers may wish to replace the familiar term "pet" with a more recently adopted, "animal companion". 2Parts of this essay appeared in 1997 as "Il caso di Doubutsu no Haka no Shashin le fotografie nei cimiteri giapponesi per animali domestici," Proceedings ("I sentieri della sociologia visuale"), International Visual Sociology Association Meetings, Bologna, Italy, pp. 273–284. 3I do not highlight this example of doubutsu no haka no shashin as an exercise in exoticizing Japan or Japanese culture. Other sources – especially news reports, Hollywood feature films as well as the mass media in general – have, on occasion, done that quite well. Rather, I seek to draw attention to gravesite photographs as an entrée point to other salient features of Japanese visual culture and home media. 4Pet–human relationships are now being treated more seriously than ever, and valued for a variety of reasons – in the United States, sometimes in relation to mental health and/or geriatrics, others in conjunction with heart disease. For an early classic account of pet–human relationships, see Beck and Katcher (Citation1983). 5In a survey/poll conducted in Tokyo by The Asahi Shimbun (Kanazaki Citation1997), one of Japan's leading newspapers, on 8 and 9 June 1997, 2248 people (49% male and 51% female) responded to a series of questions about keeping pets: 39% said they had a pet in their home while 61% said they did not. As might be expected dogs and cats were the most popular; 21% were dog owners, 10% were cat owners and the rest reported rabbits, squirrels, hamsters, birds, tortoises, snakes or fish. And when asked: "Which do you prefer between dog and cat?", 65% reported a dog and 15% said a cat. 6According to another report, "The most popular pets are dogs and cats. Fish are popular, especially goldfish, carp, and tropical varieties. Small birds are also popular as pets, especially canaries, parakeets, and paddy birds (also called Java sparrows). Other types of pets people keep are turtles, frogs, hamsters, and mice" (na/nd, Asahi Shogakusei Shimbun and Kyodo). 7The Japanese Health and Welfare Ministry initiated a nation-wide study on the effects of pets (both positive and negative) on the physical and mental health on the elderly. One objective was to help "aged people lead more meaningful lives" (Anonymous Citation1994). 8As some evidence that pets are taken very seriously in Japan, novelist Banana Yoshimoto dedicated her 1998 book, Honeymoon to her dog, Bariko. Bariko, a fox terrier, unexpectedly died at her home in Tokyo while she was writing this book and caring for her ill father in another city. According to one review, "an undercurrent of sadness and nostalgic tenderness flows through the novel, in which a young couple grieves for their dead dog, and its unconditional love for its owners" (Itakura Citation1998). 9Home Media is a specialization within the general area of Media Culture and is grounded in home mode communication. As opposed to mass media and formally structured modes of mass communication, Home Media attends to all forms of informally derived media, theoretically and practically framed as part of home culture. The cross-cultural study of Home Media includes a range of expression generated in spoken and written forms as well as pictorial/visual, mediated forms that are shared and retained primarily within private and personal networks of friends, family, clan, caste and community. 10When photographer Roslyn Banish asked volunteer family members to pose themselves in their homes for family portraits, an interesting percentage of them purposefully included the family pet for their preferred image of "family" (see Banish Citation1974). 11Ann Landers offers an example of the controversial placement of the family dog's portrait on a living room piano (see Chalfen Citation1984). 12A related Christmas-connection is seen in the practice of pet owners taking their pets to be photographed with Santa Claus. In this admittedly rare instance, the Pennsylvania SPCA sponsored just such an event in 1989, primarily aimed at raising funds for their services (see Gillin Citation1989). 13The World Wide Web is important here. Bereaved pet owners may be willing to substitute virtual cemeteries for the real-life counterparts – and this is just what has happened – interestingly with some Japanese influence. Naomi Kokubo, a graduate of the International Christian University in Tokyo and her husband Steven Hoffman both worked in Japan during the early 1990s. Later, after moving to California, they founded Lava Mind, a home-based CD games business (http://www.lavamind.com/pet_menu.html and/or http://www.lavamind.com/pet.html). These elaborate sites include a "virtual pet cemetery" complete with plots and places for eulogies and other models of verbal statements. Interestingly, some owners have been including a snapshot of their pet with their written comments (see Ryan Citation1998). 14Comparisons to habits in the United States are tempting and perhaps instructive. However, I have restricted comments to the Japanese context for this paper. Interesting insights appear in Morris (Citation1978). Generally speaking, as of 2003, pet cemeteries and associated photographic representation continue to be thought of as an oddity, as some kind of mild eccentricity in the United States. As one middle-aged woman living in Boston, Massachusetts told me recently: "I just think it's kinda goofy". 15Such practices are not limited to Japanese citizens. A Japanese veterinarian arranged for an American colleague at Temple University Japan to have his cat "Cocoa" undergo a cremation ceremony at Jindaiji Pet Cemetery in 2001. 16For instance, I personally contacted pet cemeteries in Kyoto, Matsuyama, Okayama, locations in Aichi Prefecture among many others, though I have been told (1996) there is no pet cemetery in Naha, the capital of Okinawa Prefecture in southern Japan. 17A variation on the gravesite in a pet cemetery, one that also includes the use of photographs, appears in the Japanese product known as a "Ricolet". This product is an 18 cm high clear acrylic tabletop monument that features the display of the deceased pet's picture. A website advertisement reads: "For the pure love and memories of your pet, to stay close, we invented Ricolet … You can keep pieces of the pet's bones and a photograph in this clear acrylic grave stone which is yours as one of a kind". The company says they can put the pet's name, birthday and day of death on the back of the photograph, and add that their customers have placed their pet's baby teeth, nails and hair in these custom-made containers. The theme of communication is enhanced by the inscription: "I was happy living together with the family – I will always be able to hear you" (see http://www.abba-net.ne.jp∼aqua/product2.html). 18One exception was found in a footnote: "Though on several occasions I did hear mention about wanting to keep one's pet happy and remembered and very much a sense of still being with the family or being a part of the family. There was also a sense of not wanting the animal to be lonely" (Smith Citation1999). Additional informationNotes on contributorsRichard ChalfenFootnote Richard Chalfen is Professor of Visual Anthropology at Temple University in Philadelphia and Temple University Japan in Tokyo. He is author of Snapshot Versions of Life (1987), Turning Leaves (1991) and the second edition of Through Navajo Eyes (with Sol Worth and John Adair, 1997).