Old people in Japan should kill themselves to avoid burdening the state, a professor at Yale University has said. Yusuke Narita has put forth the idea of euthanizing elderly citizens to combat issues regarding the country’s age-based society issues with often hyperbolic and controversial language.
I feel like the only solution is pretty clear, Narita said in late 2021. In the end, isn’t it mass suicide and mass seppuku of the elderly?
Seppuku is the practice of ritual suicide that was practised by Japan’s ancient samurai warrior class – an act that involved stabbing oneself in the stomach with a short sword before turning the blade upwards.
Asked about his mass suicide theories, Dr. Narita graphically the film scene and then said, Whether that’s a good thing or not, that’s a more difficult question to answer.
Dr Narita has now told The New York Times his comments were taken out of context, and the paper reported that he added they related to demands for older people in leadership positions to make way for the younger generation.
When asked to defend his views, Narita showed a clip from the 2019 movie called Midsommar, in which a cult coerced an elderly member of the group to jump off a cliff.
Whether that’s a good thing or not, that’s a more difficult question to answer. So, if you think that’s good, then maybe you can work hard toward creating a society like that, he said.