Japan's obsession with camera-equipped mobile phones has taken a bizarre twist, with mourners at funerals now using the devices to capture a final picture of the deceased.
"I get the sense that people no longer respect the dead. It's disturbing," a funeral director told the Mainichi Shimbun newspaper.
The article says that some people look at it as a "memento" of the deceased. That's kind of nice, but I think I'd really prefer a photo of my friend or loved one from when they were still alive and kicking. It's just this thing I have--call it a hang-up, if you must--about not really wanting to look at pictures of the corpses of people I know.
At one ceremony, several people gathered round the coffin and took out their phones to photograph the corpse as preparations were made to begin a cremation, she was quoted as saying.
"I'm sure the deceased would never want their faces photographed," she said.
this topic has come up ever so often in ann landers and dear abby columns. i mean, even before cell phones. for whatever reason some people want pictures of their deceased loved ones. or, um, not.
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