日本殯葬業企業放眼海外市場

Japan’s automotive industry is making an international push for the custom of the world’s least vocal road users: the dead.

日本汽車業正向海外拓展一項業務，這項業務的顧客爲世界上最沉默的道路使用者——逝者。

Mitsuoka, best known for its roaring supercars, is wooing emerging Asian markets with a sales pitch for its more sedate $70,000 Type 5 hearses.

以生產轟鳴的超級跑車而聞名的光岡汽車(Mitsuoka)，正力爭向亞洲新興市場推銷其更爲安靜的、售價7萬美元的Type 5靈車。

Japan’s battle for the funeral dollar was on display at Endex, the country’s largest end of life industry trade show in Tokyo last week.

在上週東京Endex展覽（日本最大的殯葬產業展）上，上演了一場殯葬生意爭奪戰。

Japan may boast one of the world’s oldest populations, but its domestic $20bn funeral industry is in decline: mourner numbers are dwindling and graves are shrinking.

日本人可能是全球最老齡化的人口之一，但其國內200億美元的殯葬產業卻在走下坡路，送葬者人數不斷減少，墳墓也在不斷收縮。

Indeed, pricey real estate — the driver of ever smaller final resting places — made compact graves-stones the hit product of the show.

事實上，昂貴的地價——導致墓地面積越來越小——使得緊湊型墓碑成爲此次展覽上的熱門產品。

Nobuko Inada, a tombstone wholesaler, bemoaned the fact that where once the Japanese spent between ￥3m ($30,000) and ￥5m on a tombstone, the average was now between ￥1m and ￥3m.

墓碑批發商Nobuko Inada感嘆，以往日本人在墓碑上的花費在300萬日元（合3萬美元）到500萬日元之間，現在的平均花費則爲100萬到300萬日元。

Demographics in today’s Japan mean there are more funerals than before, but they are being held on a smaller and cheaper scale.

日本現在的人口結構意味着，葬禮數量超過以前，但葬禮規模和花費卻小於從前。

Some 8 per cent of elderly Japanese now opt for no funeral at all, according to an estimate by Japan’s largest firm of undertakers, taking a toll on hearse sales — now 550 a year, one-third of which are sold by Mitsuoka and Kawakita.

據日本最大的殯儀公司估計，現在約8%的日本老人根本不想舉辦葬禮，這對靈車銷售造成打擊——現在每年的銷量爲550臺，其中三分之一爲光岡和Kawakita銷售。

Beyond Japan, the industry is looking up.

在日本以外，喪葬業前景向好。

Like Mitsuoka, Kawakita has turned its attention to exports as Asia’s rising middle classes demand a classier final journey for their loved ones and environmental regulators clamp down on the smoke-belching small trucks and minivans deployed by undertakers.

和光岡一樣，Kawakita也已將注意力轉向出口——亞洲日益龐大的中產階級想讓親人更體面地走完最後一程，環境監管機構也在打擊殯儀業者使用的、廢氣排放嚴重的小卡車和小型貨車。

Efforts so far have been modestly rewarded: nine high-end hearses have been sold abroad since 2015, though Mitsuoka expects more explosive growth when China trades in its hearse fleet for something more luxurious.

這些向海外拓展的努力到目前爲止成效不大，2015年以來僅有9輛高端靈車銷往海外，不過光岡預計，隨着中國靈車升級換代，銷量會有爆炸式增長。

We are in negotiations in Taiwan, Indonesia, Malaysia and Hong Kong and are expecting orders from those, said Takanari Kawakita, the president of Kawakita.

Kawakita的總裁Takanari Kawakita表示：我們在臺灣、印尼、馬來西亞和香港都有項目在洽談中，有望從這些地區獲得訂單。

In those countries, we are seeing a big shift from carrying coffins in micro-bus style vehicles to the more traditional van-type hearses.

在這些國家我們看到運載靈柩的車輛正在發生很大的轉變，從微型客車轉向更傳統的廂式靈車。

Hearse makers are not the only funeral players eyeing growth potential in Asia.

靈車製造商並不是着眼亞洲喪葬業增長潛力的唯一殯葬業參與者。

Japanese coffin makers, who have come under increasing pressure to produce high-quality, non-traditional caskets that feature the favourite hobbies, locations and spectator sports of the deceased, said they were expecting a substantial pick-up in overseas demand.

日本的靈柩製造商也表示他們預期海外需求將大幅增長，該行業面臨着越來越大的壓力，要生產高品質、非傳統式骨灰盒，展示死者的愛好、最喜歡的地方和最喜歡觀看的運動項目。

So too do companies that offer engineering solutions for securing tombstones in quake-prone countries.

那些可爲地震頻發國家的墓碑提供抗震工程方案的企業也將眼光投向了海外。

Nor is it just humans.

喪葬業的眼光還不僅侷限於人類。

One exhibit closely scrutinised by foreign buyers at the Endex show was a range of portable crematoriums that can be installed in vehicles to allow delivery of roadside pet funeral services.

外國買家在Endex展會上密切關注的一項展覽是可以安裝在車輛上的各種便攜式焚化爐，讓人們能夠在路邊爲寵物舉辦葬禮。