Responding to Ms.Ueno's Call

 It was a lucky day in June. I met Chizuko Ueno at Mitaka Station. We were heading to a local bookstore for a dialogue session about her book, "Philosophy of Anti-Anti-Aging," which was published this spring. Come to think of it, I have also written a review and discussed with her on "Sociology of Care". I was just as nervous this time around.
My father was the typical person who would say, "A daughter who's going to get married anyway doesn't need any academic background," and my husband, whom I married at 24, was the kind of person who would say, "I don't mind you having an occupation as long as you don't neglect the housework (though I myself won't help with anything at all)." I lived supported by such men. However, while I was a full-time housewife in London, my mother back home developed ALS. I was 33 years old. I returned to Japan to care for my mother, leaving my husband behind. I was on the verge of losing my mind juggling single-parenting and caregiving - double care - when I encountered the disability rights movement. I then launched a caregiving dispatch business for the gray zone of medical care (like suctioning and tube feeding), something no one else had tackled at the time. After starting my own company and becoming financially independent, I entered a doctoral program at a Kyoto graduate school. It was there that I met Chizuko Ueno.
I was a victim of modern patriarchy, family norms, and a gender-equal society, but I was saved by the disability movement. Since then, I've made a living providing medical care to people with severe disabilities, but I'd never studied feminism. That was why I got nervous when Ueno summoned me.

In preparation for our conversation, I made an order of a batch of Beauvoir's works. I'm ashamed to say that I had never touched any of her ideas before. Although I had been acknowledged that Beauvoir was Sartre's lifelong partner, she did not approve of mutual ties; she arranged for Sartre to be married to a young woman of her own choosing, and she herself lived with young lovers. Such a relationship hardly seems to me as free or comfortable, yet it piques my literary curiosity. But that's not exactly what inspired Ms.Ueno.
Beauvoir described "Old Age" as it really was. Neither romanticizing nor glorifying aging, the book also offers a scathing portrayal of the aging of famous people. In Western society, where independence and self-respect are considered paramount, this spirit of depicting and affirming the vulnerable as they are is surely what feminism is about. It is also what Ms. Ueno has challenged in a male-dominated society. (Ah, so we could say that Ms. Ueno was looking to Beauvoir as her guide.)
And now, conscious of her own aging, Ms.Ueno has finally begun to reexamine the issues facing the elderly in modern Japan, referring Beauvoir's classic book "Old Age" as her foundation. She argues that there is something that should be considered about the discrimination lurking in the popular anti-aging approach. Just as women have belittled and discriminated against themselves, self-discrimination arises within the elderly themselves. The following passage, though lengthy, illustrates this point well:

If the negative image of women as "emotional, jealous, clingy, and easily crying" is widely circulated, women will begin to self-censor using that negative image as a reference point. "Crying easily: This can lead to either exploiting tears using stereotypical images or, conversely, excessively denying them by gritting one's teeth and trying to act cool. The latter are given the title of "honorary man," full of ridicule and insults: "You're different," "You're the exception," "You're not a woman." In either case, sexist stereotypes are reinforced and reproduced with the consent of the individuals involved. Just as a black person can become an "honorary white" but never truly become white, a woman can become an "honorary man" but never be recognized as part of the male community. The same holds true for the elderly. Precisely because the majority society has a negative image of the elderly, the self-image of elderly people as minorities incorporates those very images. The difference, however, is that everyone will eventually have to acknowledge that they themselves have transformed into the very elderly they long despised as “another person.” Is this a case of reaping what one sows? Of all forms of discrimination, none is more painful than self-discrimination, surpassing even discrimination by others. Because before anyone else can blame themselves, they cannot accept themselves, that is, they cannot escape the feeling of self-denial."

Bovary describes the frail decline of the elderly in such graphic detail that, looking only at that, one might think she must endorse euthanasia. However, Ueno argues that both Sartre and Beauvoir would have been opposed to euthanasia.
"Because, whatever the circumstances, they loved to live."
Ms.Ueno, of course, is also opposed to euthanasia and assisted suicide. Both Beauvoir and Ueno, who advocated "Aging Alone," agree on the ideal way to improve the quality of life for the elderly: "creating senior housing = homes within collective housing for all ages, which are independent but include shared facilities (dining halls, etc.) with people of different ages." It's universal design housing accessible to residents of any age. I, too, believe that is indeed ideal.
However, in the current society of Japan, working generation seems to have too little room to spare for caring about the elderly. Politicians have emerged who openly reject mutual aid and encourage self-help, and the next generation of self-proclaimed experts are even going so far as to say that intergenerational support is harmful. Blaming unproductive, sickly people for social poverty and urging their early exit are spreading and growing on social media.
Ms.Ueno has repeatedly called on the next generation to "change society," but with this trend in public opinion, it seems that she won't have time to grow old. While my desire to pin hopes on her only grows, I'm also told to face reality. "Don't assume Chizuko Ueno will remain immortal for good."
The philosophy of anti-anti-aging suggests redistributing taxes so that support is greater for those who need it most, like the elderly, and less for those who need it least. Feminist theory is necessary for policy-making aimed at the sustainability of life as it is, so that everyone can live without reservation. Having read this book, I, too, am one of those given "homework" by Ms.Ueno.

◆Yumiko Kawaguchi
Born in Nakano Ward, Tokyo, in 1962. Entered Ritsumeikan University Graduate School of Core Ethics and Frontier Sciences in 2004. Studied under Shinya Tateiwa while launching research on intractable disease policy. Organized an ALS patient association to demand revisions to medical laws and conducted “Evolving Care” medical care training sessions nationwide. In 2011, she was commissioned by the national government to establish a model program for medical care training (including sputum suctioning), which became institutionalized (now known as Category 3 Training). She won the 41st Oya Soichi Nonfiction Award in 2010 for her book The Body That Does Not Die (Igaku-Shoin), which depicts the struggles of an ALS patient's family. She is the CEO of Care Support Momo, Inc. and vice chairman of the NPO ALS/MND Support Center Sakurakai. Motto: "Ask and it will be given to you" (Matthew 7:7)
Publications:
The Body That Does Not Die, 2009, Igaku-Shoin
Beyond the Terminal Stage, 2013, Seidosha

◆Bibliographic Information
Title: Philosophy of Anti-Anti-Aging: Reading Beauvoir's “Old Age”
Author: Chizuko Ueno
Page Count: 328
Publication Date: April 18, 2025
Publisher: Misuzu Shobo
Price: ¥2,970 (tax included)

Original Japanese article https://wan.or.jp/article/show/12096