From Here to Eternity: Traveling the World to Find the Good Death

by Caitlin Doughty

William Gladstone, a nineteenth-century British prime minister: Show me the manner in which a nation cares for its dead and I will measure with mathematical exactness the tender mercies of its people, their respect for the laws of the land and their loyalty to high ideals.

(for the first time, in 2017, more Americans will be cremated than buried).

But the Japanese do. They have a cremation rate of 99.9 percent—the highest in the world. No other country even comes close (sorry, Taiwan: 93 percent; and Switzerland: 85 percent).