Death and Dying in Contemporary Japan by Suzuki Hikaru

Author:Suzuki, Hikaru.
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Taylor & Francis (CAM)
Published: 2013-06-01T04:00:00+00:00

The search for self-identity

The funeral-while-alive also functions to identify self-value. It is a performative production of autobiography that seeks self-identity while acknowledging those people who made that self possible. ‘When roles and statuses were ascribed by tradition, we all knew who the deceased was and where he or she fitted in our lives’ (Walter 1996: 14). In a traditional Japanese community, self was placed clearly among kinship relations and community structure, whereas in contemporary society ‘[i]ntegral to this project of self is the body’ (Mellor and Shilling 1993: 413). ‘In short, when death occurred its significance denoted a disruption to the social body more than it did the passing of an individual body’ (Mellor and Shilling 1993: 415). When emphasis is put on the individual body as composing self-identity, death becomes difficult to comprehend because it implies that ‘their self-projects will be incomplete, their fragile attempts at personal meaning left shattered by the brute fact of death’ (Mellor and Shilling 1993: 427).

Individual value is created through collectively sharing an individual’s death thus making the death a social one. The decline of social death increases what Giddens terms ‘personal meaninglessness’ (Giddens 1991: 201) where one is left without self-value. The important infrastructure of nurturing a meaningful self-identity and ontological security is a basic trust with others and having confidence in the reliability of others (Giddens 1991). At ‘fateful moments’ (Giddens 1991: 202) or ‘marginal situations’ (Berger 1967: 23) of death, what is important is the ‘ordered ritual and collective involvement’ (Giddens 1991: 204) where the individual can structurally cope with anxiety. The funeral-while-alive functions as this ordered ritual and facilitates collective involvement that reaffirms trusting relationships between participants. It allows the deceased-to-be to renew close relationships by providing an opportunity where the deceased-to-be can appreciate their deeds and resolve any past misunderstandings. The deceased-to-be, in turn, finds self-value through their friends’ appreciation, trust, friendship, and faithfulness.

Masson summarises Vaux and Vaux’s study (1996), that ‘dying well as a dialectical process’ (Masson 2002: 207). Dying well implies a good closure with others and resolving one’s emotions. In a funeral-while-alive, guests are actively involved in creating the ritual through interaction and helping the deceased-to-be to find their sense of self-meaning. The welcome by Mr Tani, the reading of the funeral address (chōji) by Mr Shimada, the social interactions between guests and the deceased-to-be during the resurrection portion of the funeral-while-alive all contribute to Mr Nakamura’s acknowledging his trusting relationship with others, his life values, and his coming to peace with himself. When President Nakamura said to me, ‘I am tremendously relieved after the funeral-while-alive’, underlying his relief was that he was able to make his own closure through interactions with others.

These interconnections and dialectical interactions between the deceased-to-be and bereaved-to-be are key to finding subjectivity of death and constructing meaning for President Nakamura. Jenny Hockey argues that the reality of death is a cultural object, something put to use by different individuals and made subjective, which she calls the social reality of death (Hockey 1996: 51).

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