When a citizens' group scattered human ashes at sea 10 years ago, they revived a burial practice unseen in Japan for more than 400 years.
Until 1991, "sankotsu," literally the scattering of bones, had been unacceptable; burying ashes in cemeteries still remains the norm.
And while the government does not object to the alternative burial rite, the precedent set a decade ago has not settled the debate over whether to regulate sankotsu funerals, which some people fear may cause emotional or environmental problems.