Hi-tech tombstones in Japan let mourners link to images, videos of deceased

A gravestone manufacturer here is helping bereaved families remember their loved ones with a touch of technology — mobile phone QR codes on tombstones that link to photographs and video clips of the deceased.The tombstones are being sold by stone processing company Ishinokoe. Behind doors on the tombstone that can be locked is a QR code — a square code read by mobile phones that can link to Web addresses. Grave visitors can use the code to access images and photographs of the person while they were alive.

“Tombstones change with the ages,” said Ishinokoe president Yoshitsugu Fukazawa. “If my grandfather who started the company could see this, he’d probably be really surprised.”

The company developed the tombstones together with an IT firm in Tokyo. In addition to images of the deceased, people can view a greeting from the chief mourner at the funeral and browse through the guest book. They can also make entries using their cell phones.

The QR codes can also be added to existing graves, for a price of about 200,000 yen.

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