Japan's aging population is fueling a new trend in the alternative burial method of entombing the body in amber, for hundreds of millions of years.
Much like the mosquito from the film, Jurassic Park, the body is encased in amber as a hard outer shell preserving the contents within. From here the body, in its amber tomb, can be buried or sunk to the bottom of the Sea of the Japan, to be found by future archaeologists.
The rise in requests for joorasiparko has seen the funeral industry grow dramatically in the last year thanks, in part, to a 561% increase of orders from under 50-year-olds.
Sayonara Death Care Services were the first funeral company to offer amber entombing. It was as a one-off burial option promoted to coincide with the 25th anniversary of the release of Jurassic Park.
They received over 2,000 orders on launch day and realised they were onto something big. Amber farming began in earnest and today they own more bees, plantations and patents than most agricultural universities.
A favourite with high earners is their 'Premium Immortality Plan' which includes having your amber encased body flown over Antarctica and shot a quarter of a mile deep into the ice, thus ensuring longer preservation.
Social commentators say that a combination of movie nostalgia, fear of finality and an obsession with wrinkles, has fueled the demand for this unique burial style.
"My grandmother from Nagasaki opted for joorasiparko because the amber can withstand a nuclear blast," explained 41-year-old Toshi Maguya. "And for myself I have also added this method in my will but for different reasons. I want scientists in the year 3000 to find my body and use the DNA to resurrect whales. I eat whale every day."
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