What do we owe the newly dead? An ethical analysis of findings from Japan's corpse hotels workers

• Published in: Bioethics Vol. 33; no. 6; pp. 691 - 698
• Main Authors: Jecker, Nancy S., Miwa, Eriko
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: England Blackwell Publishing Ltd 01.07.2019
• Subjects: Aged; aging society; Bioethics; Cadaver; Crematoriums; Death; Death & dying; duties to the dead; Empathy; Ethical Analysis; ethics; Family; Female; global bioethics; good death; Grief; Hotels & motels; Humans; intergenerational relationships; Japan; Male; Older people; Residence Characteristics; Respect; Social Values; Thanatology; Japan; aging society; global bioethics; good death; duties to the dead; Japan; intergenerational relationships; ethics
• ISSN: 0269-9702; 1467-8519
• DOI: 10.1111/bioe.12578

While people are still alive, we owe them respect. Yet what, if anything, do we owe the newly dead? This question is an urgent practical concern for aged societies, because older people die at higher rates than any other age group. One novel way in which Japan, the frontrunner of aged societies, meets its need to accommodate high numbers of newly dead is itai hoteru or corpse hotels. Itai hoteru offer families a way to wait for space in over‐crowded crematoriums while affording an environment conducive to grieving. Drawing on conversations with itai hoteru employees, we delineate the values this contemporary death practice expresses and show how these values comprise part of the broader idea of a good death. A good death implies duties on both sides of death's divide: to both the dying and the newly dead.