It was 2 a.m. when Chiaki rushed to the hospital to see her 63-year-old father, who had collapsed from a ruptured aortic aneurysm.

Six hours after surgery, the doctor told her and her mother that he was going to die even though the operation had been successful, because he was losing blood from damaged blood vessels, said the Fukuoka native, who did not want her family name revealed.

Then the doctor asked her if she wanted the artificial respirator turned off.