Australian embassy issues warning after tourist drinks offering at Japanese burial site
Shahana Yasmin
The Australian embassy in Japan issued a warning urging travellers to show cultural sensitivity following public outrage over a video showing a tourist drinking an offering left at a Japanese grave.
The footage, shot near the Aokigahara forest and posted by Instagram user Lochie Jones in August, shows him entering a cemetery in the Yamanashi prefecture and stopping near a headstone with a can of popular Japanese beer Kirin placed in front of it.
Jones says he has decided to “leave it up to chance” and flips a coin before cracking open the beer can and drinking it.
“By the way, suicide in Japan is a serious f****** issue. The mental health here has to be some of the worst, and I can absolutely understand why. The Japanese women are absolutely vicious and cold,” he says in the video while looking for a coin. “The men still have their honour but it’s been weaponised against them. They’ve been tricked into not having any feelings and it results in one of the highest suicide rates in the world.”
“Happy blessings and rest in peace,” he says as he drinks the beer, then burps loudly, and places cigarettes on the grave as he exits. “I won’t leave him empty-handed, I’ve got some f****** Marlboro.”
In Japanese tradition, food and drink offerings placed at graves serve as tributes to honour the dead, not refreshments for visitors.
Consuming the offerings is widely viewed as profoundly disrespectful and akin to stealing from the dead.
The video provoked backlash against Jones, with one person writing on his post: “Imagine going to another country to disrespect people’s graves and steal the offerings left for loved ones. Very depraved behaviour.”
Another said: “In Japan, the offerings you see on a grave aren’t decorations or props, especially not for content. Families leave food, drinks, and incense as gifts for the spirits of their loved ones. That is why taking them is almost like robbing the person who passed on something a loved one left for them. What you did is not just bad manners, it’s deeply disrespectful.”
Shahana Yasmin
The Australian embassy in Japan issued a warning urging travellers to show cultural sensitivity following public outrage over a video showing a tourist drinking an offering left at a Japanese grave.
The footage, shot near the Aokigahara forest and posted by Instagram user Lochie Jones in August, shows him entering a cemetery in the Yamanashi prefecture and stopping near a headstone with a can of popular Japanese beer Kirin placed in front of it.
Jones says he has decided to “leave it up to chance” and flips a coin before cracking open the beer can and drinking it.
“By the way, suicide in Japan is a serious f****** issue. The mental health here has to be some of the worst, and I can absolutely understand why. The Japanese women are absolutely vicious and cold,” he says in the video while looking for a coin. “The men still have their honour but it’s been weaponised against them. They’ve been tricked into not having any feelings and it results in one of the highest suicide rates in the world.”
“Happy blessings and rest in peace,” he says as he drinks the beer, then burps loudly, and places cigarettes on the grave as he exits. “I won’t leave him empty-handed, I’ve got some f****** Marlboro.”
In Japanese tradition, food and drink offerings placed at graves serve as tributes to honour the dead, not refreshments for visitors.
Consuming the offerings is widely viewed as profoundly disrespectful and akin to stealing from the dead.
The video provoked backlash against Jones, with one person writing on his post: “Imagine going to another country to disrespect people’s graves and steal the offerings left for loved ones. Very depraved behaviour.”
Another said: “In Japan, the offerings you see on a grave aren’t decorations or props, especially not for content. Families leave food, drinks, and incense as gifts for the spirits of their loved ones. That is why taking them is almost like robbing the person who passed on something a loved one left for them. What you did is not just bad manners, it’s deeply disrespectful.”
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Summary
Australian embassy warns tourists to show cultural sensitivity after a video surfaces of a tourist drinking an offering at a Japanese burial site, specifically a can of Kirin beer. The incident took place near the Aokigahara forest in Yamanashi prefecture. The tourist, Lochie Jones, claims he