A Yale University professor suggested a highly controversial solution for how to deal with Japan’s rapidly aging population.
An assistant professor at Yale Dr. Yusuke Narita, who teaches courses in economics and statistics at the university has put forth the idea of euthanizing elderly citizens to combat issues regarding the country’s age-based society issues with often hyperbolic and controversial language.
In an interview with an online Japanese news program in December 2021, Narita said, “I feel like the only solution is pretty clear, would be the introduction of mass suicide or mass “seppuku” of the elderly.”
Narita claims that this would allow younger generations to make their way in business, politics and other aspects of society that the older generation refuses to leave.
Last month, Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida said the country was on the verge of a crisis. Japan has the highest percentage of elderly citizens of any country in the world, and the rate of the population aged over 65 has steadily increased since the 1950s.
At the same time, Japan happens to have one of the world’s lowest birth rates. Last month, its Health Ministry estimated less than 800,000 births in 2022, a first since records began in 1899.
After all his extreme comments on euthanasia, he has gained thousands of followers on social media in Japan among resentful youth who believe their economic progress has been held back by the aging society.
