When Even Graves Are Abandoned — The Disturbing Aftermath of Japan’s Declining Population

Gravestones dumped like garbage

A huge pile of stones stacked deep in the mountains. On closer inspection, family names such as “The ○○ Family Grave” are engraved on them. In fact, all of these are gravestones. Exposed to the rain and wind and left in a pitiful state, graveyards of gravestones are now rapidly increasing across the country—

“In recent years, the number of people buying gravestones has decreased, while the number of families dismantling and disposing of ancestral graves — so-called grave closures — has risen.”

That’s what the owner of a stone merchant in the Chūbu region says. Common reasons for grave closures include people moving to the city and finding it difficult to travel to the countryside to visit graves and relatives are elderly and cannot go to the grave. As a result, there has been an increase in reburials — moving remains to more convenient collective graves or ossuaries.

According to the latest data from the Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare’s “Hygiene Administration Report,” the number of reburials nationwide in fiscal 2023 was about 167,000 — the highest on record since statistics began. But few people know that the increase in grave closures has spawned a new problem. The aforementioned shop owner says:

“Many people don’t know what happens to unwanted gravestones afterward, but cases of illegal dumping are far from rare. While people reinter remains to continue memorial rites, gravestones that have been cared for by generations are being discarded like trash.”

So how are gravestones normally disposed of after a grave closure? Azami Nakanishi, president of Bishō Co., Ltd. in Nara Prefecture, which specializes in grave closures, explains:

“Unwanted gravestones are collected by licensed transport contractors like our company and taken to affiliated intermediate disposal sites. At the disposal site they are crushed into gravel and are often reused for paving or as roadbed material.”

Why, then, are there so many cases nationwide where gravestones are illegally dumped instead of being brought to disposal sites? President Nakanishi continues:

“Gravestones are treated as industrial waste, so when the prime contractor hires a transporter to take them to a disposal site, they must hand them to a contractor who holds an ‘Industrial Waste Collection and Transport Permit.’ Our company, for example, renews permits for the 27 prefectures we serve every five years.

However, because transport can be done with a single truck, the barrier to entry is low. Unscrupulous operators have noticed this and increasingly take on transport jobs at rock-bottom prices while pretending to have the required permits. Since they cannot deliver the stones to disposal sites, they inevitably resort to illegal dumping.”

A massive, unregulated graveyard is born

Minamiawaji City, Hyōgo Prefecture — Near the highway interchange leading to the Naruto Strait lies a graveyard where gravestones are piled up to nearly four meters high. Some are even buried underground, and the total amount is estimated to exceed 1,500 tons (see photo above).

In 2008, the president of Company A, a tombstone sales business, was arrested for violating waste disposal laws after illegally dumping gravestones in this forested area. According to reports at the time, the company had accepted tombstone disposal contracts from about 150 stone dealers and temples across five prefectures — including Osaka, Hyōgo, and Kyoto — for roughly half the price charged by legitimate contractors.

However, even after the arrest, other operators continued illegal dumping, and the site has since turned into a colossal graveyard. According to the Minamiawaji City Industrial and Construction Department, the city has purchased the land from its owner after deducting 30 million yen — the estimated cost of grave disposal — and plans to redevelop it into a parking lot.

According to President Nakanishi of Bishō Co., similar graveyards have been confirmed in Gifu, Okayama, and Ibaraki Prefectures as well.

Another stone company president revealed deeper structural issues within the industry:

“When you search grave closure online, countless websites pop up. Many of the subcontractors these sites work with are unlicensed. As far as I know, there are fewer than 10 fully licensed companies in Japan that specialize exclusively in transporting gravestones.

In some cases, illegally dumped gravestones still have plates engraved with the names of their original stone dealers. You can trace the origin from these, but most of the time, the response is something like, ‘We confirmed with the transporter that it wouldn’t be illegally dumped.’

The real issue is that even those requesting disposal often choose the cheapest option, prioritizing cost over compliance — knowing there’s a chance of illegal dumping. As a result, people think they’ve saved money on a grave closure, when in fact their ancestral gravestones have been abandoned in the mountains.”

When uncertain about where the gravestones go, Nakanishi says there’s a clear step to take:

“Whenever a contractor is hired for tombstone disposal, the prime contractor receives a copy of the manifest (industrial waste management slip) along with the disposal agreement. Each time a stage — transport, processing, final disposal — is completed, the manifest is returned to the prime contractor. In other words, by checking the manifest, you can confirm whether the subcontractor handled the disposal properly through to the end.”

If you’re guided only by cheap prices or convenience, you may unwittingly end up with your family’s ancestral gravestones lying broken and forgotten in the mountains.

From the September 26, 2025 issue of “FRIDAY”