Japanese Cemeteries

I got hopelessly lost on the way to Korakuen the other day and stumbled on this cemetery on a hill. There were paths up the hill all along the road so I took one and it led me up past lots of different graves and into a wooded area. The path was slushy so it was a bit dangerous going back down, but it was a nice walk on the way up.

I don't know much about Japanese graves, but according to wikipedia there's a space underneath the stone for the ashes of the deceased (nearly everyone here is cremated). I also read that sometimes when someone dies before his or her spouse the spouse's name is engraved on the stone as well but it's painted red and then the red ink is removed when the spouse dies. I've never seen that, though.

My apartment in Fukuyama, where I used to live, looked out over some temples and there was a graveyard right behind my apartment building. From my balcony I could see memorial services and people tending the graves. The whole place was very clean and new-looking, unlike the graveyard you can see in my pictures, but even in this old cemetery there was plenty of evidence that people had been there recently, like the fresh flowers you can see in the last picture.

Thanks for reading!
Cate