Dear SSJ-Forum member,
The Department of East Asian Studies - Japanese Studies at the University of Vienna would like to draw your attention to the upcoming hybrid u:japan lecture:

Dorothea Mladenova (Leipzig University, Germany):
"A Society of Many Deaths: End-of-Life Planning and Governmentality in Super-Aging Japan"

Date and time: Thursday, May 22, 2025, 18:00~19:30 (CEST, UTC +2h)

Location: Onsite @ Campus of the University of Vienna Department of East Asian Studies, Japanese Studies room JAP 1 (2K-EG-21), University Campus Hof 2.4, Spitalgasse 2, 1090 Vienna, Austria
https://japanologie.univie.ac.at/index.php?id=23548#c646040

Online: Join the lecture via Zoom (no registration necessary):
https://univienna.zoom.us/j/68548566646?pwd=w3YPFd12mnDu8YIUoY0UxxnzTV7buo.1
Meeting-ID: 685 4856 6646 | Passcode: 166974

Abstract: Discussions about Japan's "super-aging society" (chō-kōrei shakai) often focus on elder care, pension and long-term care funding, the low birthrate, labor shortages, and rural depopulation. In my research, I explored this discourse through the lens of death and dying. As thanatologist Kotani Midori noted in 2014, "The flipside of a super-aged society is a society of many deaths (tashi shakai)". From the perspective of governmentality studies, such labels frame social conditions as problems and prescribe ways of dealing with them.
One such response is shūkatsu (終活, end-of-life planning), a practice introduced by the funeral industry and briefly turned into a media buzzword. Here, responsibility is individualized: "We have entered an era in which everyone must think about their own death," claimed the Shūkatsu Counselor Association in 2014. While making arrangements for one's own death is not new, shūkatsu takes a specific form within neoliberal contexts--as a technology of the self aimed at optimizing outcomes and aligning personal responsibility with collective benefit.
In the first part of the lecture, I examine how the shūkatsu industry mobilizes demographic discourse to activate individuals to manage their own death. At its core, however, this content marketing strategy is a response to declining revenues in the funeral industry, triggered by changing consumer behavior and the emergence of online discount platforms, as well as an attempt to tap into the wealth of older urban residents.
In the second part, drawing on structured interviews, I explore how those targeted by the shūkatsu program respond--ranging from active engagement and pragmatic adaptation to hesitation and outright rejection. They share a common desire not to become a burden on their children or society, and to die as quietly and smoothly as possible (pin pin korori).

For more information on the speaker and future events at u:japan, please follow the link below:
https://japanologie.univie.ac.at/ujapanlectures/

We look forward to your participation!
Christopher Kummer, Florian Purkarthofer, Elisabeth Semmler and Ralf Windhab

PS: If you missed a lecture or want to review, head to our recorded lectures section:
https://japanologie.univie.ac.at/ujapanlectures/records/

u:japan lectures
Department of East Asian Studies / Japanese Studies at the University of Vienna
E-mail: ujapanlectures.ostasien@univie.ac.at

Kindly sponsored by the Toshiba International Foundation:
https://www.toshibafoundation.com/