The Landscape of Death as Depicted in Japanese Elderly Literature: From Nursing Murder to Euthanasia

Abstract

This paper aims to examine representations of death in Japanese elderly literature through reading Sae Shūichis The Elderly Family (1985). While Japanese welfare policy considers it standard practice for family members to look after the elderly, this expectation has placed psychological and economic burdens on family members due to the rapid nuclearization of the family and increase in life expectancy. Consequently, this practice has manifested itself in the extreme form of nursing murder. The Elderly Family is a particularly unique text in Japanese elderly literature in that it explores issues of nursing murder and euthanasia. The Elderly Family begins with the shocking news of a nursing murder case that took place in a three-generation household in New Town in Yokohama, where the grandparents, their son and his wife, and their children live together. Based on the victims facial expression, which appears as though she had peacefully fallen asleep, the police suspect from the outset that the victim herself had requested the murder. The family members come to know about euthanasia through a new religion movement called the WWC (Welcome Wagon Company), which encourages euthanasia in the name of God. Drawn in by the fact that the WWC approves of euthanasia, the elderly couple joins the religious group. The son and his wife remain silent despite being cognizant of their parents participation in WWC and hope that they would choose to be euthanized. This euthanasia, however, is ultimately carried out in the form of nursing murder by family members. Discussions on euthanasia in Japan have largely focused on the refusal and termination of life support in legal and medical settings. Euthanasia as portrayed in The Elderly Family is noteworthy as it is concerned with the active euthanasia of a dementia patient. This is because while the patients clear affirmation of consent is a crucial condition for executing euthanasia, it is difficult to recognize the consent of dementia patients as valid. Indeed, euthanasia in The Elderly Family turns into murder when other family members project their contempt and fear for their own future onto the patients desire to end their life. This paper explores the implications of the portrayal of euthanasia in The Elderly Family, which appears to be more relevant to the general public in Japan and Korea today than Japanese society in the 1980s.