일본 고독사의 변화과정과 대책방안에 관한 연구

Abstract

It is noticeable that Korea and Japan share a lot of similarities despite many differences compared to other countries in the world. In addition, as Japan is ahead of us, Japan could be the mirror showing the future of Korea. 'Solitary Death' should be the same case. Earlier in Japan, individuals, government and private companies are fully taking care of solitary death as a social concern. The risk of solitary death in Korea is also increasing day by day due to the rapid increase of aging, nuclear families and weakened social networks. We have already entered such a time. Considering the realities and learning lessons from experiences of Japan, it is required to deal with the problem of solitary death. Thus, the purpose of this research is to seek the implications for Korea by discussing the issue of solitary death in Japan, a serious social problem since long ago. Previous studies and documents were collected and analyzed for this. As a result, the solitary death of Japan has quite some indications for Korea as follows. First, broad social consensus should be formed for solitary death. Second, government should expand and strengthen current prevention programs and services to primary target by establishing an exclusive organization and providing administrative support through policy and institutions. Third, it is required to find the clues to solve the problem of solitary death as substantial countermeasures by activating discussions and researches regarding the concept of solitary death. Finally, this research is significant in pointing out the problems through the cases of Japan as the problem of solitary death was raised in Japan first and the same phenomenon occurs right after in Korea.