Death Cafe Tsukuba Summary つくばにおけるデスカフェのまとめ
A write up of 1st Death Cafe at Tsukuba
By josh441
Today's participants were a mixture of medical students from the 3rd, 4th, 5th and 6th year. We talked about our own experiences of death, both medical and personal, in a care free manner with occasional laughter.
A few topics that arose in the discussion were the lack of knowledge about the palliative care profession and also lack of a good salary in Japan. Yet most of the participants expressed an interest in working in palliative care with psychiatry as a subinterest. One participant remarked that she could not work in a more popular profession such as pediatrics as it's so bright and cheerful that could see herself 'vanishing'「眩しくて消えるほど」 [sic].
Most people felt that the notion of a 'good death' required dying over time so that one could make ample preparations. One participant commented that this was not something they would want if they had dementia however.
The discussion eventually moved to talking about the ideal place of death to which people prefered dying at home with hospice as a second place before the hospital. One participant took a less determined stance towards dying at home in that "the place of death is not the important thing but my ability to decide is. Right now I would want to die at home but that could easily change."
Lastly, on the topic of dying at home, one person did not want to be a burden on their family at the end of their life, they saw this possibility as as a useful motivator to earn money so that it will not cause further hinderance to their future family.
One topic that brought much entertainment to the group was that of disposing of one's remains after one dies. One person wanted their ashes to be spread into the sea 'like fish bait', another wanted theirs to be sent into space after they die.
In summary, the overall reaction was positive and no sense of animosity was felt. Though the one hour was relatively short, important lessons were learnt and I am excited and emboldened for the next death cafe!