I heard that the number of lonely deaths in Japan has reached 68,000 a year.
The number of suicides is decreasing, but 20,000, the highest among the G7 countries.
It is not surprising that the number of single-person households is high, since one of the spouses will always precede the other.
Furthermore, the number of those who have never married and are living alone is also increasing.
The term "solitary death" means that no one will take care of you.
In other words, they have had little social contact with others since their spouse passed away.
Or, there are those who have been single from the beginning and have had little interaction with others.
But death is not the only problem.
The number of single elderly people is also increasing.
They have a long time before they die!
They will no longer be able to walk on their own two feet and will not be able to go shopping.
If they become ill, some may not even be able to go to the hospital.
They may be in poor, painful, and lonely circumstances, but as their dementia progresses, they will not even recognize their own misery.
Lonesome deaths are no longer something that is only reported in the media.
It is happening all around us.
Mail is piling up. No one can be reached. There is a strange smell.
Such things are how lonely deaths are discovered.
Since neighbors rarely go up to their neighbors' houses anymore, it is often too late to notice.
It is not easy to say, "Well, why don't neighbors get to know each other better?
For example, those who live in apartment complexes are free from the ties of relationships in the countryside, which is very important.
They do not work together, helping each other, like in fishing or farming villages.
They do not work together on festivals like people living in traditional communities.
So even though they live in close proximity to each other, they are complete strangers and rarely interact with each other.
In the end, it is only natural that people today must accept solitary death in exchange for their freedom from the bonds of local relationships.
In the shadow of freedom, there is always loneliness and loneliness lurking.