The Japanese government initiates Plan 75 \u2013 a voluntary, state-sponsored euthanasia policy \u2013 in response to a growing societal malaise over the costs and burdens of taking care of the country\u2019s ageing population. Michi, a 78-year-old recently unemployed elder has no family and decides to enroll in the plan due to difficulty finding a new job and new housing. The film follows the story of Michi and other elders, a migrant care worker, and an administrator of the plan. It depicts the complex relationships that are established between them in the process. For example, consequences of the demographic structures and adjacent crisis of care in an ageing society are explored in the character of Maria, a Filipino care worker. She works in an elderly care home to support her gravely ill 5-year-old daughter whom she had to leave in the Philippines with her father. Due to economic necessity, she accepts a job offer from Plan 75 sorting items of the deceased. The language of assisted dying organisations frames the way Plan 75 is presented in the film \u2013 the scheme is introduced \u2018to plan one\u2019s own death\u2019, \u2018die with dignity\u2019, but also as a solution to not be a burden to others. What becomes apparent, however, is that the language of free choice is driven not by ethical but capitalist concerns that place no value in unproductive and vulnerable elders past retirement age.<\/p>
Euthanasia in the context of an ageing population is a key focus of Plan 75; yet, this is not a pro- or anti-euthanasia film. Rather, it depicts an inhumane society in which capitalism has fundamentally deformed Japan, leaving behind lonely, disconnected individuals that feel like the most valuable thing they can do for the society they live in is to buy into Plan 75. Although this science-fiction film imagines a dystopian society in which \u2018Plan 75\u2019 is presented as a state-sponsored solution to Japan\u2019s ageing population, the documentary style of the film seeks to blur current realities and the dystopian future it imagines. For example, a scene reimagines the actual mass murder of 19 care home inhabitants with disabilities in Tokyo in 2016 by a man who believed those with disabilities should be euthanized. At the same time, it presents the attitude of wanting to rid society of useless people as absolutely normal. The film\u2019s depiction of voluntary euthanasia has led some Japanese commentators to welcome the idea; indeed, some surveys suggest that a certain portion of Japanese society favours active physician-administered death. Medical assistance in dying is currently illegal in Japan: Penal Code Article 202 criminalizes those who assist another in dying, even when it comes at their request. Famous cases in Japanese courts, such as one in Tokai University Hospital in 1995, in which a physician was convicted of unlawfully killing his patient, act as judicial precedents for discussing contemporary cases in which physicians have helped patients die. Meanwhile, outside of Japan, the Netherlands have debated \u2013 and rejected in 2022 \u2013 a Completed Life bill, which would have extended eligibility for physician-assisted death to healthy citizens over 75 who feel they have accomplished everything they wanted to do in life.<\/p>","cover":{"ratio":1.3333333333333332593184650249895639717578887939453125,"url":"https:\/\/assistedlab.ch\/media\/pages\/visual\/plan-75\/4c6ad0b8a7-1713881222\/picture_plan75_ai-2410x-q90.png","caption":"\u00a9 St Stev, Lonely Man, Flickr, 2008"},"toggles":[{"title":"Suggested citation","list":[{"text":"Plan 75, Assisted Lab\u2019s Living Archive of Assisted Dying, 18 March 2024 ","link":null,"pathname":null}]},{"title":"Reviews","list":[{"text":"In the eerie dystopia of \u2018Plan 75,\u2019 a mass suicide program takes effect, LA Times, 2023","link":"https:\/\/www.latimes.com\/entertainment-arts\/movies\/story\/2023-05-04\/review-the-dystopian-drama-plan-75-puts-mass-suicide-under-a-microscope","pathname":"latimes.com"},{"text":"\u2018Plan 75\u2019: A chilling look at a callous future society, The Japan Times, 2023","link":"https:\/\/www.japantimes.co.jp\/culture\/2022\/06\/23\/films\/film-reviews\/plan-75\/","pathname":"japantimes.co.jp"},{"text":"\u2018Plan 75\u2019 Review: Leaving Early, The New York Times, 2023","link":"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2023\/04\/20\/movies\/plan-75-review.html","pathname":"nytimes.com"},{"text":"Choosing to Die at the Age of 75: What a Dystopian Japanese Drama Tells us about Today\u2019s Ageing Anxieties, Blog: The Oxford Institute of Population Ageing, 2023","link":"https:\/\/www.ageing.ox.ac.uk\/blog\/Choosing-to-Die-at-the-Age-of-75-Dystopian-Japanese-Drama","pathname":"ageing.ox.ac.uk"},{"text":"\u2018Plan 75\u2019: l\u2019\u00e9limination programm\u00e9e des personnes \u00e2g\u00e9es dans un \u00e9difiant premier film de la Japonaise Chie Hayakawa, France Info\u00a0: Culture, 2022","link":"https:\/\/www.francetvinfo.fr\/culture\/cinema\/sorties-de-films\/plan-75-l-elimination-programmee-des-personnes-agees-dans-un-edifiant-premier-film-de-la-japonaise-chie-hayakawa_5252128.html","pathname":"francetvinfo.fr"},{"text":"\u2018Plan 75\u2019, un film sur l\u2019euthanasie des a\u00een\u00e9s comme solution au vieillissement de la population, Le Temps, 2022","link":"https:\/\/www.letemps.ch\/culture\/ecrans\/plan-75-un-film-leuthanasie-aines-solution-vieillissement-population","pathname":"letemps.ch"}]},{"title":"Media citations","list":[{"text":"When 75 is time to die: the horrifically plausible film imagining state-run euthanasia in Japan, The Guardian, 2023","link":"https:\/\/www.theguardian.com\/film\/2023\/may\/08\/plan-75-ageing-japan-euthanasia-suicide","pathname":"theguardian.com"},{"text":"A Filmmaker Imagines a Japan Where the Elderly Volunteer to Die, The New York Times, 2022","link":"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2022\/06\/17\/world\/asia\/japan-plan75-hayakawa-chie.html","pathname":"nytimes.com"},{"text":"Plan 75, un film de science-fiction sur l\u2019euthanasie?, G\u00e8n\u00e9thique, 2022","link":"https:\/\/www.genethique.org\/plan-75-un-film-de-science-fiction-sur-leuthanasie\/","pathname":"genethique.org"},{"text":"Plan 75 et euthanasie - Du \u2018droit \u00e0 mourir\u2019 \u00e0 l\u2019euthanasie contrainte, Herodote.net, 2022","link":"https:\/\/www.herodote.net\/Du_droit_a_mourir_a_l_euthanasie_contrainte-article-2832.php","pathname":"herodote.net"}]},{"title":"Interest Group citations","list":[{"text":"Citoyens pour une mort choisie, recommended film, retrieved 19 January 2024","link":"https:\/\/choisirmafindevie.org\/liste-de-films\/","pathname":"choisirmafindevie.org"},{"text":"Film imagines euthanasia for all over 75s in Japan as \u2018solution\u2019 to ageing population, Right to Life News, 2023","link":"https:\/\/righttolife.org.uk\/news\/film-imagines-euthanasia-for-all-over-75s-in-japan-as-solution-to-ageing-population","pathname":"righttolife.org.uk"},{"text":"Plan 75 film shows \u2018a disturbingly realistic glimpse\u2019 of assisted suicide, The Christian Institute, 2023","link":"https:\/\/www.christian.org.uk\/news\/plan-75-film-shows-a-disturbingly-realistic-glimpse-of-assisted-suicide","pathname":"christian.org.uk"},{"text":"Plan 75 film Director opposes the legalization of euthanasia, National Right to Life News, 2023","link":"https:\/\/www.nationalrighttolifenews.org\/2023\/04\/plan-75-film-director-opposes-the-legalization-of-euthanasia\/","pathname":"nationalrighttolifenews.org"},{"text":"Euthanasie au Canada\u00a0: les impasses du dispositif canadien, Alliance Vita, 2023","link":"https:\/\/www.alliancevita.org\/2023\/07\/impasses-euthanasie-canada\/","pathname":"alliancevita.org"},{"text":"The dying decision: choice, coercion and community, Seen & Unseen, 2023","link":"https:\/\/www.seenandunseen.com\/dying-decision-choice-coercion-and-community","pathname":"seenandunseen.com"},{"text":"\u2018Plan 75\u2019, a cautionary tale about a society that provides no comfort to the elderly and then disposes of them, World Socialist Web Site, 2023","link":"https:\/\/www.wsws.org\/en\/articles\/2023\/05\/17\/unxp-m17.html","pathname":"wsws.org"},{"text":"Demography and Euthanasia, Human Life International, 2023","link":"https:\/\/www.hli.org\/2023\/03\/demography-and-euthanasia\/","pathname":"hli.org"},{"text":"Hemlock Society San Diego, Right-to-Die Film Series, 2023","link":"https:\/\/www.hemlocksocietysandiego.org\/hemlock_events\/right-to-die-film-series-plan-75\/","pathname":"hemlocksocietysandiego.org"},{"text":"Alterssuizid in einer alternden Gesellschaft, Intergeneration, 2023","link":"https:\/\/intergeneration.ch\/de\/blog\/alterssuizid-in-einer-alternden-gesellschaft\/","pathname":"intergeneration.ch"},{"text":"Japanese dystopian euthanasia film \u2018Plan 75\u2019, Euthanasia Prevention Coalition, 2022","link":"https:\/\/alexschadenberg.blogspot.com\/2022\/05\/japanese-euthanasia-dystopian-film-plan.html","pathname":"alexschadenberg.blogspot.com"}]}]}