＜prologue＞
I started a blog called “The Baby Boomer Generation’s Miscellaneous Blog”（Dankai-sedai no garakutatyou:団塊世代の我楽多（がらくた）帳） in July 2018, about a year before I fully retired. More than six years have passed since then, and the number of articles has increased considerably.
So, in order to make them accessible to people who don’t understand Japanese, I decided to translate my past articles into English and publish them.
It may sound a bit exaggerated, but I would like to make this my life’s work.
It should be noted that haiku and waka （Japanese short fixed form poems） are quite difficult to translate into English, so some parts are written in Japanese.
If you are interested in haiku or waka and would like to know more, please read introductory or specialized books on haiku or waka written in English.
I also write many articles about the Japanese language. I would be happy if these inspire more people to want to learn Japanese.
my blog’s URL:団塊世代の我楽多（がらくた）帳 | 団塊世代が雑学や面白い話を発信しています
my X’s URL:団塊世代の我楽多帳（@historia49）さん / X
<2024/2/16> “Former Dutch Prime Minister and his wife euthanized while holding hands” was reported.
A former Dutch prime minister and his wife recently passed away together, holding each other’s hands through legal euthanasia. The couple, both 93 years old, had revealed that they could not live without each other. The New York Post and other U.S. news media reported the news.
The Netherlands is known as the first country in the world to legalize euthanasia. Dries van Agt, 93, former prime minister of the Netherlands, and his wife died of legal euthanasia on February 5 in their hometown of Nijmegen, Horderland, the human rights organization The Rights Forum announced on February 9. The Rights Forum is a non-profit organization that promotes the rights of people to a fair and just society.
Mr. Abt was the founder of the same human rights organization and served as Prime Minister of the Netherlands from 1977 to 1982. In 2019, however, he suffered a cerebral hemorrhage during a speech at a Palestinian memorial service, which saved his life but left him with permanent injuries.
Avt’s wife, Eugenie van Agt-Krekelberg (93), is also seriously ill, and the couple’s health has apparently been deteriorating for some time.
And as for why the couple made the decision to euthanize the couple, the director of the human rights organization stated that they “could not live without each other.”
The statement of the human rights organization is as follows
Mr. Abt died hand in hand with his wife Eugenie, who had been with him and supported him for 70 years. He always called his beloved wife “My Girl.
After the couple’s death, the funeral was held privately.
１．What is the novel “Euthanasia Ward”?
Hosei Hahakigi (1947- ) wrote a novel titled “Euthanasia Ward” (1999), which deals with dementia patients. In the end of the novel, he shows six different patterns of “euthanasia” and raises the issue of “euthanasia”.
The issues of “euthanasia,” “death with dignity,” and “terminal care” have become more important in this “super-aging” society, as people ask themselves, “Is futile life-prolonging treatment right or wrong? What is a happy end? I believe that it is time for the medical and legal communities to make some proposals on this issue.
２．What is the movie “Closed Ward”?
There is a movie called “The Closed Ward” (Toei) that was released in November 2019. It is a live-action film adaptation of a novel by psychiatrist and novelist Hosei Hahakigi.
The lead actor, Shofukutei Tsurube (1951- ), is one of my favorite TV personalities.
I have not heard much of his rakugo, but I am impressed by the way he immediately blends in with new acquaintances on talk shows such as NHK’s “Tsurube no Kazoku ni Kanpai”
He also gave a good performance in the movie “Otouto,” in which he co-starred with Sayuri Yoshinaga (1945- ) as a windbag younger brother who is a very good human being but has repeatedly made mistakes due to alcohol and has aged in vain. The final “hospice” scene was also impressive.
The original work, “Heisa byoutou” is a novel published in 1994 by Hosei Hahakigi. It depicts patients in a psychiatric ward in Kyushu who try to live cheerfully despite their heavy and painful pasts, and the murders that take place there and their unexpected endings.
Shofukutei Tsurube plays Hidemaru Kajiki, a man who was sentenced to death for the murders of his mother and wife, but survived the botched execution and is now in a psychiatric hospital.
In order to play the role of Hidemaru, Mr. Tsurube went on a diet that included no carbohydrates and wrapping his abdomen in plastic wrap, and he succeeded in losing about 7 kg in 10 days.
It seems that he is tackling the role head-on, which requires a different presence from the “good-natured characters” he has portrayed in the past.
Co-stars are Go Ayano as Mr. Chu, a patient who has a heart-to-heart with Hidemaru, and Nana Komatsu as Yuki, a high school girl who goes to a psychiatric hospital because of her truancy.
I went to see the movie right after it was released.
３．About “PLAN75” starring Chieko Baisho (added 3/4/2023)
Although slightly different in nuance from “euthanasia,” “death with dignity,” and “terminal care,” “PLAN75” starring Chieko Baisho is a movie that deals head-on with the problems of the “super-aging society.
This movie depicts a near future in which people can choose life or death from the age of 75, and Baisho delicately expresses the emotions of a woman in despair about her life” (movie reporter).
PLAN 75” has been running for more than half a year since its release in Japan, and continues to have long-run screenings at movie theaters throughout Japan. To commemorate the awarding of the Best Actress Award (Chieko Baisho) and the Best Director Award (Chie Hayakawa) at the 65th Blue Ribbon Awards, the film will be screened again from March 10 (Fri.) at Shinjuku Piccadilly, the main theater where it was released.
(*) What is “PLAN 75”?
This film is the feature debut of director Chie Hayakawa. It is her own feature-length adaptation of her short film “PLAN 75,” which she originally released as part of the omnibus film “Ten Years Japan” under the overall supervision of director Hirokazu Kore-eda.
Set in Japan in the near future, where a system has been enacted that allows people aged 75 and over to choose their own life and death, the film depicts the fate of people at the mercy of this system.
In the near future, Japan will face an aging society with a declining birthrate. Plan 75,” a system that gives people the right to choose life and death at the age of 75, was passed and enacted by the Diet, and although controversial at first, it was accepted by the public as a solution to the problems of a super-aging society.
Michi Kakutani, a 78-year-old woman living alone after the death of her husband, was working as a room cleaner at a hotel when one day she was suddenly laid off due to her advanced age.
Having almost lost her place of residence, she begins to consider applying for “Plan 75. Meanwhile, Hiromu, who works at the “Plan 75” application counter at city hall, and Yohko, a call center staff member who supports elderly people who have chosen to die until their day comes, begin to question the nature of the “Plan 75” system.
With detailed direction, the film depicts the sensational subject of the line between life and death based on age, and was entered in the Un Certain Regard section at the 75th Cannes International Film Festival as a first feature film. The film was selected as a Special Mention (runner-up) for the Caméra d’Or, an award given to first-time feature films.
As a side note, a realistic “countermeasure for the super-aging society” (a simple and easy solution to the pension problem) that the government is now trying to implement is to “gradually raise the age for receiving pension benefits.
Currently, “pension payments start at age 65,” but it is only a matter of time before it becomes “pension payments start at age 70. In the near future, it will be “pension payments from age 80,” and perhaps even “pension payments from age 90” will become a reality.
If this happens, the government and the Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare may easily believe that “the number of people who can receive pensions will decrease dramatically and the pension problem will be solved at once,” but in that case, they will be faced with the difficult problem of “increasing welfare costs.