It’s news like this that makes me wonder how far we as a people have fallen. A quarter of Japan’s population is 65 years of age or older so Yahoo Japan has decided to add a new feature. That new feature is called Yahoo Ending which helps people have an active social media life even from beyond the grave. Of course, this is a paid service, and for $1.80 subscribers can do things like plan their funerals or set up online memorials where people can leave them messages. I know when I’m on my deathbed my main concern is going to be setting up a place online where people can send me messages I’ll never get to read. Subscribers can even write a letter that gets e-mailed to specific people the minute they die. The subscriber simply gives a booking number to a friend, family member, etc. and when they die the friend or relative calls in and gives the number to set the bizarre post-life plan into motion. A spokeswoman from Yahoo Japan told the Washington Post, “Yahoo Japan’s job has been to solve social problems through the power of the Internet and to provide services from the cradle to the grave”. Really spokeswoman? Is that Yahoo Japan’s job? I could have sworn your job was to be a search engine; you use it for a term paper, to look at pictures of Sofia Vergara in a bathing suit, and things of that nature. Yahoo Japan has even teamed up with a funeral services company Kamakura Shinsho so while a person is alive they can spend their days sitting on the internet planning their funeral, picking out a grave, or sorting out a will. Man, this sounds like a barrel of monkeys, talk about giving up on life. What happened to the good old days when you’re grown children would awkwardly walk into the local funeral home to plan their parent’s funeral and get asked questions by a funeral director such as, “How did mom go?” or “What do you think Mom would have liked?’ I’m sorry but this Yahoo Ending thing is morbid at best. Japan has martial arts and sushi dammit! Throw a few kicks, eat a few rolls and sign the hell off of Yahoo Ending. They’re called you’re golden years for a reason. What the heck is so golden about sitting around and constantly pondering the details of one’s death?
Article By: Jon DaBove
