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Current Affairs

Ageing Southeast Asia fights fears of death to brave the inevitable

Death is the family business for Viroj Suriyasenee, a second-generation Thai funeral director.
His bespoke coffins range from plain wooden boxes to ornate creations trimmed in…

By Samantha Johnson / March 21, 2026

Death is the family business for Viroj Suriyasenee, a second-generation Thai funeral director.

His bespoke coffins range from plain wooden boxes to ornate creations trimmed in gold with plush red velvet interiors, priced anywhere from US$30 to US$30,000 – each one representing a story of loss, grief and a life concluded.

They also speak to the sheer scale of Asia’s ever-growing, multibillion-dollar death economy.

A visitor tries out a coffin at Death Fest in Nonthaburi, Thailand. Photo: Aidan Jones
A visitor tries out a coffin at Death Fest in Nonthaburi, Thailand. Photo: Aidan Jones

All the coffins Viroj makes are destined for the cremation furnace, yet the 55-year-old reports rising demand for original styles as tradition is increasingly paired with, questioned or diluted by a desire for individuality to the very end.

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”What has changed is that people now want to make their own choices while they are alive,” he said. “They are thinking about what they want to leave behind: a last memory for themselves and their loved ones, a final moment of creativity.”

Viroj spoke to This Week in Asia at Death Fest in Bangkok – a three-day expo for those seeking a richer understanding of death and its costs – as attendees clambered in and out of his coffins, taking selfies.

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It was, in a way, quintessentially Thai: confronting the macabre with a light, almost playful touch.

Viroj and his 27-year-old daughter Ramida run Suriya Funeral, a 70-year-old family-run business just outside Thailand’s capital.

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