From Elderly to “Patient”: Jun’ichirō Tanizaki’s Diary of a Mad Old Man and Aging Narratives in 1950s–1960s Japan

As Japan grapples with the pressing challenges of a super-aging society, understanding the lived experience of its older adults becomes imperative. This article centers on Diary of a Mad Old Man, a novel by renowned Japanese writer Jun'ichiro Tanizaki, written during the author's final years in post-World War II Japan. The text serves both as a reflection of its historical moment and as a precursor to the aging-related issues that would intensify after the 1970s. Employing a New Historicist approach, this study situates the novel's aging narratives within the broader postwar Japanese medical landscape, with a particular focus on biomedicine, the pharmaceutical industry, in-home nursing care, and medical pluralism-especially acupuncture. Special emphasis is placed on Japan's postwar transition from reliance on German pharmaceuticals to increasing confidence in its domestic pharmaceutical sector. The article argues that the biomedicalization of aging in postwar Japan increasingly pathologized old age, casting older adults as patients. However, this construction of patienthood was far from monolithic. Tanizaki's protagonist resists such categorization through his obsession with medical consumerism and his engagement with both biomedical and alternative therapies. By experimenting with various medications and treatments-while remaining impartial to them all-the protagonist emerges not as a passive recipient of care but as an informed and discerning consumer of medical interventions. These narrative accounts illustrate the capacity of older adults to navigate the rapidly changing medical landscape of postwar Japan and underscore the active roles patients can play in shaping their own healthcare experiences.