It was not the most elegant way to launch a national conversation about the right to die, but this past January Deputy Prime Minister Taro Aso, 72, certainly drew attention to the issue of terminal patients. Unfortunately he did so by saying that old people should "hurry up and die" to unburden the nation's medical-care system.
Speaking at a meeting of the National Council on Social Security Reforms, Aso declared, "Heaven forbid if you are forced to live on when you want to die. I would wake up feeling increasingly bad knowing that (treatment) was all being paid for by the government.
"The problem won't be solved unless you let them hurry up and die."