Bosan: The Grave Honoring App for iPhone

Bosan App

Japanese culture has traditionally placed a great deal of importance on visiting and honoring the graves of loved ones and family members.  In today’s busy global world, though, it is often difficult to find the time, or to be in the right place to physically meet this obligation.  

Devotional and audio options

In a previous post, I shared news of an innovative cemetery in Japan where the cremated remains of loved ones were brought to central shrines like an elaborate vending machine, in response to family members swiping magnetic cards.  Now, thanks to iPhone apps, one no longer even needs to be on the same continent to honor and visit a loved one.

The grave receives a virtual ritual washing

Bosan, which in Japanese means grave honoring, is a newly released iPhone app from KnowledgEx which allows you to register information about and carry photos of a loved one’s grave, as well as photos of the deceased.   Whenever you want and where ever you are in your busy schedule, you can virtually honor the grave of your loved one with a prayer, along with offerings of incense, flowers, food and water.  This app also gives you a choice of audio tracks, such as the rustle of leaves, the chirp of birds or crickets, bells or water flowing, to accompany this devotion.

Registration forms and selection menus are all in Japanese

Although the app is available all over the world, so far the only instructions are in Japanese language.  Where there is an opportunity, an app will soon follow, so look out for an English Language version soon, or ask a Japanese friend to help you with Bosan, as I have! 

For more information (in Japanese) about the app, visit iTunes

My thanks to Photographer Mayu Kanamori for brining this app to my attention!
Please visit my post on her project, 'In Repose'

In Repose: A requiem for Japanese immigrants buried in Australia
To view a post on another death related app, visit:

Vanitas: Memento Mori in the Digital Age

How to Deal with Death Online: Death on the Internet

As part of a continuing series on Virtual Funerals, I'm pleased to post a piece about death online by guest blogger, Tanja Baudoin of Mediamatic

http://www.mediamatic.net/page/49221/en

A Funeral in World of Warcraft

Although most social network sites and online games today enforce extensive regulations on their members, one issue is continuously overlooked or ignored: what happens to a profile or an avatar when its user dies?

A lot of social networking websites do not have a clear policy on this subject. Some websites remove users who don't sign in to their account for a certain amount of time. But frequently they don't get the chance, because profiles are turned into veritable memorial sites for the deceased. Many personal MySpace and Facebook profiles thus become a place of collective mourning for the bereaved where they may leave messages and prayers. Or, when passwords can be retrieved, friends or family may change a profile into an online shrine with pictures and information about the lost loved one.
Facebook is one of the social networking sites that has included a statement on death in their Terms of Use: 'When we are notified that a user has died, we will generally, but are not obligated to, keep the user's account active under a special memorialized status for a period of time determined by us to allow other users to post and view comments.' The Dutch dance-community Partyflock allows members to post condolences to the profile of deceased friends. Their profiles remain on a special section of the site, with a notification of their death. Livejournal has a similar group for deceased members, but it is created by a member, not by Livejournal itself.
For most social networking sites, it can be difficult to know whether a user has died. Even if they are contacted by family or friends, they may feel it is necessary to officially verify the report with a death certificate. At the same time, for family members it is often impossible to know about all the accounts and communities a person was a member of. If the deceased was not in touch with any of his or her online friends in the real world, this means these friends often have no way of finding out what happened to this person. An Online Death Notification Service offers one solution. Such a Notification Service involves the storage of a list of online contacts that are notified when family informs the Service that the user has died. It could also be helpful to sign up to OpenID, a website that provides their users with one single login for various sites. In case of death, OpenID is then able to inform all the sites at once, although it is still up to every individual site what they will do with the news.
In online games, players sometimes organize an online funeral when a member has died in real life, for example in Batteground Europe/WWII online. The death of a fellow player raises the awareness of users to the fact that online friends exist not only virtually, but also physically. When it is not possible to attend a funeral service in real life, holding an online ceremony may be an appropriate way to grieve.

http://www.mediamatic.net/page/49813/en

A Funeral in World of Warcraft

Guest Blogger, Tanja Baudoin, is a researcher and editor at Mediamatic in Amsterdam. She holds an MA in Art History, and was the 2008 organizer of Specters, Hauntings & Archives and Afterwords. This article was originally posted at Mediamatic.

Visit Mediamatic to view a list of recommended readings on the subject of Death on the Internet, and to see more of her projects and articles, at http://www.mediamatic.net/

Virtual Funeral Part 2

http://tributetothesojourner.wikispaces.com/

Since my first post on Virtual Funerals, I have come across several more. Here are some highlights: First is a tribute page http://tributetothesojourner.wikispaces.com/ for the virtual friends of a virtual character whose real life counterpart died. This site includes many links to places where 'The Sojourner" spent her time, and many shared memories and eulogies posted by her friends. This is very similar to the phenomenon of tribute pages that are posted for real people, and Myspace pages that perhaps began when a person was alive, but continue after death as memorial pages.

http://trinity.fooroo.co.uk/2008/03/19/kelise-hailey-i-miss-you/

Next is a screen shot of a virtual anniversary memorial service, and a friend's thoughts upon the occasion:

Tonight in SL is the one year memorial service for Kelise Hailey, she was a young transsexual woman whose struggle became to much for her to bare. She committed suicide. She was my friend.
I owe my own life to Kelise. When she left us I was in a very dark place, torn between this world and something else. Losing her fixed my resolve to stay for good. No matter how low and depressed I feel, no matter what happens in my life. I made her a silent promise and I will keep it. I keep a candle lit for her in SL to remind me that no matter what happens, no matter how dark the days might seem for me or anyone else. You're never truly alone.
When I'm quiet and alone my thoughts often drift to her, a year on and I still can't hold back the tears. I miss you Kelise.http://trinity.fooroo.co.uk/2008/03/19/kelise-hailey-i-miss-you/

http://victorianaesthetic.blogspot.com/2007_02_01_archive.html

Finally, here are some thoughts shared on the passing of another SecondLifer, and his virtual memorial service:

Most of you out there will have probably known of an internet friend who passes away. Someone whom you never met but who you spoke to, argued with, laughed with and generally had some form of conversation with. You may not have known them other than a name on a board or you have have shared things with them about your real life. And when that person is not longer there are postings and comments about them and how they'll be missed. Today we learnt that the player behind the SecondLife avatar Shucks Valkyrie had died from a heart attack there was an impromptu memorial service held in the cemetery of the Tombstone, Arizona sim, his most recent place to be. I've never attended a virtual funeral service before. It was odd yet it worked. The sim manager said some words of remembrance and then someone started the words to Amazing Grace. Each line was delivered in chat, completely unprompted, yet there was no duplicating of lines as it was taken up by mourners. Someone even kicked in with a recorded audio version of it. I only met Shucks a handful of times but he was always having fun and making others laugh. He will be missed. http://victorianaesthetic.blogspot.com/2007_02_01_archive.html

These online funeral services are powerful reminders of our need as humans to gather together to say goodbye. Together we share the burdens of sadness, and the gifts of memories whether we are in a funeral parlor, a church, a tavern, or in cyberspace. This is something we need to do together.