Content area
Full text
Introduction
The lives and deaths of all sorts of people are commonly depicted in films and literary works, and research in the field of life and death is also widespread. In contemporary Japanese society, however, death is a taboo topic. Furthermore, a widespread illusion exists that medicine can cure every problem. 1 Japanese society has been referred to as 'a society that forgot death'. 2 In Japan, the 'dankai no sedai ' or baby boomer generation born after World War II between 1947 and 1949 will soon become old; they will be over 80 years old by 2030. In other words, Japan will soon experience a sharp rise in deaths. 3 Thus, with an unprecedented age of increased mortality expected in the very near future, discussions regarding life and death have taken on a greater significance than ever before.
Views of death held by religious leaders and academic scholars are clear, but ordinary people do not always share these views. In addition to researching philosophical views held by experts on death and dying, it is equally important to use a variety of methods to examine views of life and death held by ordinary people living today. In this article, we will use Departures (Okuribito ), the first Japanese film to win an American Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film, to examine the contemporary Japanese view of life and death. 4
We will use the medium of film to consider the issue of death: what death is, the relationship between life and death, and how the impurity and dignity of the dead are recognised by contemporary Japanese people. We will also discuss what the ritual of 'encoffinment' suggests and reveals about Japanese views on what happens to a person when they die, and what requirements exist for someone to be able to pass from this world into the afterlife.
The movie Departures and Nokan ('encoffinment')
In February 2009, Departures became the first Japanese film to receive the award for Best Foreign Language Film at the 81st Academy Awards. The title Departures refers to people who assist the dead in their departure from this world to the afterlife. The film generated considerable publicity in Japan, becoming a huge hit and enjoying an unprecedented...