The 16th-century Bansho-ji temple in Nagouya, Japan, has created a 21-century system to help parishioners honor their dead. A new high-tech vault in the temple uses an RFID-enabled system helps relatives locate their loved one’s cremated remains.
When a relative visits the “Crystal Hall” on the third floor of the temple, they will scan an RFID-enabled card which first causes images of their loved one to appear on a screen while the deceased’s preferred musical selections play in the background. Then a wall-mounted LED system will guide the visitor to the correct area among the 2,000-capacity vault, where the card will open the appropriate ashes vault.
The vault was built when priests at the temple became concerned that too many people were being buried far outside the city, where inconvenience prevented proper veneration of the dead. The new facilities will open in December, and the temple expects to immediately have at least 1,000 customers dying to get in, despite the more than $32,000 cost for a spot. ![[end]](/resources/bullet/rfidnews-4.gif)
