Yusuke Narita, an associate professor of economics at Yale University, suggested yet again that the only way to cope with Japan's rapidly aging population is death.
In 2021, Narita first stated that the solution to Japan's rapidly aging population problem would be "mass suicide and a mass 'seppuku' of the elderly." He has repeated his controversial opinion in several interviews and public appearances:
I feel that the only solution is quite clear (...) In the end, isn't a mass suicide and a mass 'seppuku' of the elderly?
Seppuku was a disembowelment ritual imposed on samurai who had disgraced themselves in Japan in the 19th century.
The comments were "taken out of context"
In a recent interview with The New York Times, Narita said that he was "mainly concerned about the phenomenon in Japan, where the same tycoons continue to dominate the world of politics, traditional industries and media/entertainment/journalism for many years."
The Japanese justified that his 2021 comments were "taken out of context." He claimed he meant it as an "abstract metaphor" for how a previous generation must be eliminated to make way for a new one. He mentioned that he has since tried to soften his language:
I should have been more careful about its possible negative connotations (...) After some self-reflection, I stopped using the words last year.
However, although he assured that his choice of words in 2021 was not the best, the professor confirmed that his criteria remains the same and that mass suicide is still the only option for the problem facing Japan.
Mandatory euthanasia
This time, Narita decided to add a new guideline. He claimed that euthanasia could become mandatory in the future and that this would allow younger generations to make their way into all aspects of business, politics, and society that older generations refuse to give up:
Euthanasia (whether voluntary or involuntary) is a complex and nuanced issue (...) The possibility of it being mandatory in the future (...) will come up in the discussion. Whether that's a good thing or not, that's a harder question to answer (...) So, if you think that's a good thing, then maybe you can work hard to create a society like that.
Euthanasia is not legally recognized in Japan. Some polls indicate that most citizens would support the legalization of voluntary euthanasia.
Last December, several people criticized Dr. Narita. University of Tokyo sociologist Yuki Honda described his comments as "hatred of the vulnerable."
Japan's birth rate and public debt
Japan has a low birth rate and at the same time the highest public debt in the first world. According to the World Bank, the country has 1.3 births per woman, well below the average world birthrate of 2.3 births per woman. As a result, the country saw its population drop by more than 600,000 last year. This pattern has been repeated for almost ten consecutive years.
Declining fertility rates and a rapidly aging population cause a social problem that could become an economic crisis. The Daily Mail reported that in 2022 the country's overall population fell, as deaths outnumbered births by 609,000 and people moving out of the country outnumbered those moving into the country by 35,000.
The population of older adults in Japan is the highest in the world and the percentage of the population over the age of 65 has increased steadily since the 1950s.
