Case Study Of Kodokushi Phenomenon In Contemporary Japan

Kodokushi Phenomenon in Contemporary Japan Kodokushi is a Japanese term, means a person dies completely alone at home without being noticed for a long period of time. Kodokushi is an increasing social problem in Japan. There are thousands of elderly people dying alone at home and remaining undiscovered every year. In some worse cases, their bodies slowly decomposed over several weeks, even over months or years. Nozawa (2015) argued that, “ Kodokushi signals a limit case of kinship as a default model of sociality. It incites people’s fantastic imagination about what chronotope of sociality might be possible when kinship fails, or better when kinship isn’t interesting. Such a cultural imagination should also instigate anthropological thought.” Kodokushi phenomenon reveals the general indifference is prevalent in contemporary Japan — the apathy that people feel toward the elderly, in the …show more content…
There are approximately 8.9% of elderly Japanese people who are living alone do not communicate with their neighbors in their everyday lives (Fukukawa, 2011). With changes in family structure and increase in the number of elderly households, there is a significant reduction in social connection. Social isolation is a growing problem among elderly people. Thus various problems have occurred as the result of social isolation, including dying alone (Shimada et al., 2014). In the past few years in Japan, there are more cases of suicides have been claimed among elderly individuals who live with their families, compared to those living alone (Cabinet Office, Government of Japan, 2012). Such circumstances may indicate a potential problem in some elderly living with family. Apart from examining social isolation among people living alone, It is necessary to examine those living with family as