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- Title
Euthanasia in Japan as portrayed by Shichiri Nakayama's novel, The Legacy of Dr. Death.
- Authors
Atsushi Asai
- Abstract
Over the past several years in Japan, cases of voluntary euthanasia or assisted suicide, rarely disclosed until recently, have occurred in close succession. The purpose of this short essay is to examine euthanasia-related issues considered important in modern-day Japan by presenting and analyzing a novel by Japanese novelist Shichiri Nakayama, The Legacy of Dr. Death. This novel was made into a commercial film by director Yoshihiro Fukagawa, entitled The Legacy of Dr. Death: Black File, which was released in 2020 (5). I also compare the novel with the film and discuss the ethical significance of some of the differences between the two works. Euthanasia-related issues to discuss include perception of oneself as a burden on others as a primary reason for requesting euthanasia; relationship between law and ethics; and ethical implications of differences in Dr. Death's depiction in the two works. Fiction works such as novels and films can mirror real social situations from which they are produced. I feel that this novel teaches us that we need to keep thinking about euthanasia issues, difficult as they are.
- Subjects
JAPAN; EUTHANASIA; ASSISTED suicide
- Publication
Eubios Journal of Asian & International Bioethics, 2022, Vol 32, Issue 1, p6
- ISSN
1173-2571
- Publication type
Article