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A Yale University professor sparked outrage by suggesting that the only way to deal with Japan’s rapidly aging population is mass suicide and disembowelment.
Yusuke Narita, an assistant professor of economics at Yale, defended his views in a New York Times profile this weekend after making the comments on a news broadcast show in 2021.
“I feel like the only solution is pretty clear,” he said at the time. ‘In the end, isn’t it mass suicide and mass seppuku of the elderly?’
Seppuku was a ritual disembowelment imposed on self-disgraced samurai in 19th-century Japan.
Yusuke Narita (pictured right), an assistant professor of economics at Yale, has sparked outrage by suggesting that the only way to deal with Japan’s rapidly aging population is mass suicide and disembowelment.
Narita told the New York Times was ‘taken out of context’ but has also said that euthanasia could become mandatory in the future, however his comments sparked backlash.
He claims that this would allow the younger generation to make their way in business, politics and other aspects of society that the older generation refuses to give up.
Japan has a low birth rate and the largest public debt in the first world. The country has 1.34 births per woman, below the 1.65 for the United States.
Last year, Japan saw its population drop by more than 600,000 due to declining fertility rates and a rapidly aging population.
The country’s population declined for the 11th year in a row, shrinking by 644,000, according to its Ministry of the Interior and Communications.
The 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.
Yasuke’s comments not only angered people, but gained him an audience: he has more than 569,000 followers on Twitter.
Frequently appearing in Japanese media wearing casual clothing and portraying himself as a radio jock, his Twitter bio proclaims, “Things you’re told you can’t say are usually true.”
“I feel like the only solution is pretty clear,” he said at the time. ‘In the end, isn’t it mass suicide and mass seppuku of the elderly?’
Japan has a low birth rate and the largest public debt in the first world. The country has 1.34 births per woman, below the 1.65 of the United States
Japan, which has seen its birth rate decline for many years, could potentially ‘disappear’ according to Musk. Above: Statistics Japan data reveals population decline and negative rate change since 2010 in Japan
Narita was asked to defend her views in a class earlier this year and did so by showing a clip from the 2019 film Midsommar, in which a cult forces an older member to jump off a cliff.
“Whether that’s a good thing or not, that’s a harder question to answer,” Narita said. ‘So if you think that’s good, then maybe you can work hard to create a society like that.’
His comments received renewed attention when they were uncovered by social media in January, with a sociologist proclaiming them “hate of the vulnerable.”
Narita told the Times that he was “primarily 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.”
He admits that the way he said it was a metaphor for how an older generation needs to be weeded out and has since softened his language.
Prime Minister Fumio Kishida said in late January that the birth rate was a crisis that was in a state of “now or never” solution.
Narita told the Times that he was “primarily concerned about the phenomenon in Japan, where the same tycoons continue to dominate the world of politics, traditional industries, and media, entertainment, and journalism for many years.”
“I should have been more careful about its possible negative connotations,” Narita said. ‘After some self-reflection, I stopped using the words last year.’
He is not alone, however, as one of the country’s leading Liberal Democratic Party players has suggested that older people should “hurry up and die”.
Narita spreads her message on social media and through comedy shows, energy drink ads, and even through TikTok impressionists.
Polls have even suggested that the public in Japan supports voluntary euthanasia.
Narita goes on to emphasize that he is softening his position and that it should not be taken literally, but the discussion is getting closer.
“I am not advocating its introduction,” he said. I predict that it will be discussed more widely.