31–40 of 174 posts
This is scary. This is the first time I read such article. I live alone, never married ( no plans to marry either ), have no friends. I have a decent job though. This article scares me.
This is so sad. Dying alone is more frightening than death itself. It is articles like this that force me to stop working so hard and spend more time with family.
Maybe, but most people mentioned in the article apparently die from heart attacks, and you don't know when it's going to happen - so it's not like you "know" and expect death to come around the corner. It could have literally happened when that person was shopping out, too.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
I genuinely want to know: why is that frightening? I have thought through this a few times and I did not come to this conclusion at all.
I don't understand it either. Why is it frightening? I also didn't quite understand the family comment either. Whose family are you talking about? When you are born, you have your mom (and possibly Dad) around you. But as you grow older, Mom and Dad will pass away and you'll thus be alone. Unless you have kids, you'll die alone. Even if you do have kids, life happens. I know plenty of people who don't talk to their k…
I think you hit it spot on with this. My dad's father died after parking his car in his garage. My mom's father died in his sleep. His wife (my mom's mom) died in an elderly care home in the middle of the day a year later. Between both sets of grandparents, there were 30 grandchildren. None of us had seen them in a few weeks at the times of their deaths. It's not like we weren't close, they all just sort of died unexpectedly. None of them were sick or anything.
[0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Orientalism
[1] I don't want to pick on anyone, but there are already some great examples in the thread.
Why are there so many stories HN on social problems in Asia? I would have expected that smart people on HN would make some effort to understand Orientalism[0]. In the case of this story, this is a phenomenon that is occurring all around the developed world. Japan is in many ways just another developed country. But through the eyes of Orientalism, Japan's problems are unique and quaint, and the objective Westerner can…
I actually agree with this being a phenomenon that is occurring all around the developed world though. Just avoid your thinly veiled accusation of racism.
This is so sad. Dying alone is more frightening than death itself. It is articles like this that force me to stop working so hard and spend more time with family.
> Dying alone is more frightening than death itself. Maybe, but most people mentioned in the article apparently die from heart attacks, and you don't know when it's going to happen - so it's not like you "know" and expect death to come around the corner. It could have literally happened when that person was shopping out, too.
Why are there so many stories HN on social problems in Asia? I would have expected that smart people on HN would make some effort to understand Orientalism[0]. In the case of this story, this is a phenomenon that is occurring all around the developed world. Japan is in many ways just another developed country. But through the eyes of Orientalism, Japan's problems are unique and quaint, and the objective Westerner can…
I downvoted you, not because I disagree, but because I think this is a desperate attempt at censorship. We're not allowed to talk about X because of Y. I actually agree with this being a phenomenon that is occurring all around the developed world though. Just avoid your thinly veiled accusation of racism.
On the other hand, I am accusing people of bias, and if you disagree you will have to show how my claims are wrong. Don't tell me what to do in a patronizing way either.
This is scary. This is the first time I read such article. I live alone, never married ( no plans to marry either ), have no friends. I have a decent job though. This article scares me.
Thank you for sharing. My heart is with you. Why don't you plan to marry?
> His epiphany came when his current partner told him how she had lost her grandmother. Unlike Koremura’s loss, her grandmother had died alone—a kodokushi. It was seeing the deep regret in her, and accepting his own ennui, that made Koremura finally take action. He left his job as a stockbroker and set up his own removal company dedicated to the cleanup of kodokushi victims. He wanted to give something back to the ge…