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> His epiphany came when his current partner told him how she had lost her grandmother. Unlike Koremura’s loss, her grandmother had died alone—a kodokushi. It w
by civilian 11y ago
> His epiphany came when his current partner told him how she had lost her grandmother. Unlike Koremura’s loss, her grandmother had died alone—a kodokushi. It was seeing the deep regret in her, and accepting his own ennui, that made Koremura finally take action. He left his job as a stockbroker and set up his own removal company dedicated to the cleanup of kodokushi victims. He wanted to give something back to the generation of his grandmother, and he also wanted to change who he was. “I was ready for the prospect of change, but looking back, perhaps I wasn’t quite so ready for how different my life was to become,” he remembers.
It's odd that Toru Koremura's reaction to lonely elderly deaths was to go into the corpse-cleaning-up business, rather than starting a social outreach program for the lonely elderly. I understand there's dignity in how we treat the dead, but it doesn't solve the problem at all.
- deleted 11y ago[deleted]
- kentt 11y agoI think this is very cultural. It's about honouring them in their death. Though I understand, that does sound off to my western mind.
- cubancigar11 11y agoI think the problem is present in all the countries where traditional marriage system has been broken. The only difference between USA and Japan will be that you can find old-homes very easily in USA. Japan being a very conservative country that prides itself over 'protecting' all the bad symptoms of its culture will not solve this problem because, ironically, they think that this is what makes them 'Japanese'.
- kaitai 11y agoI don't think it's related to "traditional marriage systems," but instead to social nets and expectations about who will do the caring. For instance, in Scandinavia marriage rates have simply plunged over the last few decades -- fewer and fewer people get married, even though they are still getting together. But social safety nets ensure that taking care of children or older relatives is not such a financial burden as in Japan. Marriage isn't necessary to supporting elders or children in Scandinavia. In Japan, though, there is very little government support. Families are the main line of support, and it is expensive!
- sliverstorm 11y agoBoth are needed.
- deleted 11y ago[deleted]
- teek 11y agoJapan is incredibly stubborn and ignorant when it comes to addressing core social and psychological problems in their society. It isn't even recognized by most of the population so when people begin to complain of their own social issues or depression, people around them will slowly distance themselves from that person. As a result, most people will choose to hide their issues until it is unbearable. At the point they feel they cannot continue is when they do something drastic which includes suicide. If you bring the problem to light, people will just shy away from the debate (Japanese avoid arguments at all costs) and act ignorant. So to anyone that understands Japanese culture, Koremura's response is understandable. At least in the position he is in, he can do something.
- keithpeter 11y ago"Japan is incredibly stubborn and ignorant when it comes to addressing core social and psychological problems in their society." Not just Japan http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-edinburgh-east-fife-33285980 http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-edinburgh-east-fife-33... Politicians in the UK talk about community this and community that but in practice we are losing the ties between neighbours/families.
- Sharlin 11y agoOften "the community" is just a buzzword used by the political right when trying to weasel out of responsibilities belonging to the state.
- adwf 11y agoYeah, a lot of the local government stuff in the UK is the equivalent of the US saying: "Oh, we believe this is a states rights issue, therefore we're not gonna do anything about it." It's another way of saying, fix it yourself. Oddly enough though, when we actually have the government step in, then all sorts of people start complaining about the nanny state. Politics - Damned if you do, damned if you don't!
- contergan 11y ago
- A_COMPUTER 11y agohttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shikata_ga_nai https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shikata_ga_nai
- gcv 11y agoEnglish has an equivalent: "it is what it is". It also stops solution-seeking dead in its tracks. A hateful little phrase.
- protomyth 11y agoThat's educational. Had a boss who normally on an even keel then someone said "it is what it is" to him and he got very, very angry. It was like someone kicked him. He said that was just unacceptable and we would find a solution / work around. I guess I now know the other half of the story.
- impendia 11y agoI lived in Japan for two years, and studied the language, and it was amazing how that sentence always brought any discussion to a conclusion. Grammatically, its negation would be "Shikata ga aru", but I never heard this said once.
- sliverstorm 11y agoSounds like it's a thought-terminating cliche- of which we have many in English.