Phones
Japanese Graves with QR Codes Link to Memorial Websites
Posted by Adam Frucci at 3:00 AM on March 21, 2008
In Japan, QR codes are everywhere. Little boxes of data that can be turned into web links, they're found on advertisements everywhere, allowing people to get more info by simply pointing their phone at it. Now, QR codes are being found in more unorthodox places: on graves.
Yep, now if you're interested in finding out a bit more about the dead person in question, you can simply point your phone at the grave and be automatically taken to a memorial website. The sites are generally small, simple collections of photos or videos formatted for the small screens of phones. Here's an example of one, although if I had a website address linked to my gravestone it would almost definitely link to this. It's my legacy! [J-Cast via Trends in Japan]

Comments (AU Comments · US Comments)
There are currently no AU comments for this post.
Out2gtcha
Posted 7:29 AM 21/3/08
@nutbastard:
And a Rockzo reference isnt obscure?
Out2gtcha
nutbastard
Posted 7:29 AM 21/3/08
@Out2gtcha:
yeah but +1,000,000,000,000 points for my star, so im not worried about the point balance. Besides, that's a really obscure reference.
nutbastard
Out2gtcha
Posted 7:29 AM 21/3/08
And to answer your question, I only snuggle up to Uncle Willie.
Danish Spacecake is nice too.
G-13 always does the trick as well.
Out2gtcha
Out2gtcha
Posted 7:29 AM 21/3/08
@nutbastard:
-10 for NOT getting the Office Space reference.
Out2gtcha
Ryanraven
Posted 7:29 AM 21/3/08
On tombstones in america right under the "R.I.P." will be
"visit myspace.com/deadguy17863"
HAHA
Ryanraven
dukerayburn
Posted 7:29 AM 21/3/08
These things would be so easy to deface. Just slap on a new piece of vinyl that points to bearlove.com and its instant shame that lasts forever and ever. The gravekeepers will just have to be looking out for a new kind of vandalism.
dukerayburn
nutbastard
Posted 7:29 AM 21/3/08
@Curves:
AHAAHAHAHAHAHAA!!!!!
HOPE YOU'RE DONE DANCING NOW! LOOK WHO HAS A MOTHERFUCKIN STAR!!!!!!
nutbastard
dukerayburn
Posted 7:29 AM 21/3/08
@Angryrider: They're not advertisements. These are just also used in advertisements.
dukerayburn
nutbastard
Posted 7:29 AM 21/3/08
@Out2gtcha:
' "PC Load Letter?"
"What the F#@k does that mean?!" '
No, What the fuck does THAT mean? PC Load Letter? WTF are you smoking man?
nutbastard
Angryrider
Posted 7:29 AM 21/3/08
Have they no shame?! They place advertisements in cemeteries? I start to pity the young'ns.
Angryrider
The Great Aussie Evil
Posted 7:29 AM 21/3/08
Can I have my gravestone link to ICHC?
The Great Aussie Evil
Canthros
Posted 7:29 AM 21/3/08
I find this interesting both from the ability to offer a sort of extended epitaph, but also the future potential to store the whole memorial website in a similar type of encoding. (Or maybe some sort of passive RF device?)
I can't help but find it a bit on the tacky side, but at least it's relatively unobtrusive, and a far sight less obnoxious than the tombstone with an embedded LCD and speaker ISTR hearing about a year or two ago.
Canthros
Out2gtcha
Posted 7:29 AM 21/3/08
@nutbastard:
"PC Load Letter?"
"What the F#@k does that mean?!"
Out2gtcha
Curves
Posted 7:29 AM 21/3/08
@nutbastard: I dont hate it, and I think Giz was being nice to give it to me, though I still have no clue why. Really, I am just one of the guys, the same as everyone else. If I have a star, I might be expected to say something intelligent, insightful, relevant, etc, etc, and anyone who reads the crap I spew here KNOWS that not going happen. I think its just temporary though, as strider doesnt have one, so I will wear it for as long as it stays. No free gadgets have been offered either.
(You're jealous and that is the fun part of it - Doing my IAMASTARANDNUTBASTARDISNT superiority dance.....)
Curves
nutbastard
Posted 7:29 AM 21/3/08
@Curves:
still hating that star?
"You know the Nazis had pieces of flare they use to make the Jews wear."
nutbastard
Curves
Posted 7:29 AM 21/3/08
I wont say what I see in that card lest I be judged a complete pervert (its the fool moon, not me).
Curves
Amiash
Posted 7:29 AM 21/3/08
(i almost cried when i thought gizmodo was blocked by the I.T people)
well, I guess that idea is a good idea if your good with ideas and the idea can be used as a good idea.
Amiash
GoatMonkey
Posted 7:29 AM 21/3/08
@Gary_7vn: I see Elvis. Maybe I am looking at it wrong?
GoatMonkey
Kaiser-Machead
Posted 7:29 AM 21/3/08
@Gary_7vn: I see a baby dragon getting impaled on giant thorns, but that's probably because I'm a sick bastard.
Kaiser-Machead
Gary_7vn
Posted 7:29 AM 21/3/08
If you look closely at that QR code, you can see the face of Jesus.
Gary_7vn
tamoko
Posted 7:29 AM 21/3/08
@Kaiser-Machead: all those whip-its...
tamoko
Git Em SteveDave
Posted 7:29 AM 21/3/08
@faabshaam: This is Japan. They have a little more respect for their elders and departed people than some idiots over here do.
Git Em SteveDave
jamar0303
Posted 7:29 AM 21/3/08
@faabshaam: QR code technology is supposed to have a crazy level of redundancy- it'll work fine even if you black out ~1/3 of it (so I heard).
jamar0303
nutbastard
Posted 7:29 AM 21/3/08
@Kaiser-Machead:
All those puppies....
nutbastard
Kaiser-Machead
Posted 7:29 AM 21/3/08
I want mine to link to a fake video confessional telling all of the horrible things I've done and never got caught for.
Kaiser-Machead
Way
Posted 7:29 AM 21/3/08
There's one reason I can think of not to introduce this technology to mainstream America: The Rick Roll.
Way
faabshaam
Posted 7:29 AM 21/3/08
How fool proof are those cards? Couldn't some kid just add a little extra black to it somewhere with a magic marker and render it useless? Only the stronger kids could create damage to tombstones, but not anymore.
faabshaam
nutbastard
Posted 7:29 AM 21/3/08
I want to tattoo one on my ass - that links to a picture of the face of my enemy.
got a match?
nutbastard
22rifle
Posted 9:43 AM 21/3/08
@electrikecho:
Trying to make sense of your post. I gather you hate evangelicals but beyond that ????
22rifle
Curves
Posted 9:43 AM 21/3/08
@nutbastard: Doing my IHADMYSTARBEFORENUTBASTARD superiority dance....
Curves
electrikecho
Posted 9:43 AM 21/3/08
In Japan, yes it's a great idea. In evangelical America though, there's only two QR codes that you'll see on caskets:
Ship to: Heaven
Ship to: Hell
Purgatory is when they mis sort your package and it hangs around some warehouse in Utah or something.
And UPS will charge exorbitant brokerage fees to the receiver to boot.
electrikecho
awdark
Posted 9:43 AM 21/3/08
What software is used to read those codes?
I know the "correct" use is to take a picture of it on a portable device such as a camera phone... software decodes it to URL. But are there windows versions of it anywhere just for the curiosity of reading those?
awdark
nutbastard
Posted 9:43 AM 21/3/08
@Out2gtcha:
yeah yeah yeah, i see the parallel...
nutbastard
Out2gtcha
Posted 9:43 AM 21/3/08
@nutbastard:
Star be dammed! (Congrats BTW)
"You know the Nazis had pieces of flare they use to make the Jews wear."
Mine wasn't that obscure since I was just playing off your Office Space reference....
Out2gtcha
nutbastard
Posted 9:43 AM 21/3/08
@Out2gtcha:
not within an [adult swim] context... i've seen office space a half dozen times, and within the context of that movie, "PC Load Letter" is much more obscure than "I do cocaine!" is.
Do you SEE the star? Yeah. That's right.
nutbastard
Mr.Purple
Posted 9:43 AM 21/3/08
Nah, its a cat!
Mr.Purple
Khuluna
Posted 12:09 PM 21/3/08
Mine shall link to a Goatse mirror, because everyone will have forgotten about it by then.
Khuluna
vagrant
Posted 12:09 PM 21/3/08
I use QR codes for different sites, but I never thought of it being used on a gravestone. I'm not sure I'd have a QR code that linked solely to a URL though. I mean if someone forgets, or is unable to pay that hosting bill....I guess it would be funny if someone got a 404 Error. The irony.
Anyways, you might want to limit a message to 200 characters, so that a phone could read the code that would be generated and perhaps slip in a URL as well.
vagrant
CutePuppyz
Posted 12:09 PM 21/3/08
That is...CREEPY. What if some bored insomniac decided to like go around the cemetary and look everyone up....creepy..
CutePuppyz
electrikecho
Posted 5:04 PM 21/3/08
@22rifle:
Nope. If anything I really dislike UPS
The imagery behind that post was an imaginary comic strip depicting the use of the QR codes for the dead in different cultures. One where Japanese people scan up messages from their deceased friends and relatives, and the other one where a UPS guy scans caskets to go to either heaven or hell, then misroutes one to purgatory. The evangelical part was just to set it into some sort of religious context. But that's a whole different story.
But it's not funny if I have to explain it. ("probably because it isn't funny" you might say)
Oh well.
electrikecho
mtopper
Posted 12:50 AM 22/3/08
@nutbastard:
@Out2gtcha:
' "PC Load Letter?"
"What the F#@k does that mean?!" '
No, What the fuck does THAT mean? PC Load Letter? WTF are you smoking man?
Obviously, he's smoking the "letter".
mtopper
Gary_7vn
Posted 4:23 PM 22/3/08
My wife tells me that they can also be used to make donations to the groundskeepers or charities.
I want one.
Gary_7vn