A Study on Shūkatsu in Japan's Super–Aged Society through a literary Perspective

Japan entered a ‘society of many deaths’ in 2022, two years earler than projected, where more people died than are born. As the number of deaths increases, social perceptions of dead are changing, and personally, individuals are becoming more conscious of their own morality. These changes are spreading the end–of–life preparation (shūkatsu). This paper closely examines the necessity of end–of–life activities and how pre–death organization is expanding socially and personally. This analysis is based on two episodes from Kakiya Miu's works “The Man Who Can’t Throw Thing away” and “The Woman Who Wait for a Guest Who Doesn’t Come”. This is expected to suggest a new direction for understanding of end–of–life activities in Korea's supper–aged society.