KBS1 ‘Docu Insight’

On a terrestrial broadcaster, a program that sheds light on Japan moving toward a ‘society of many deaths’ and asks what constitutes a ‘good death’ will air.

At 10 p.m. on the 7th, KBS1 ‘Docu Insight’ will air ‘Asking About a Good Death’.

We know that we will die, yet we rarely think about how we will die. Death is still a story we wish to keep at a distance and an event we hope to face late. Reality, however, is changing fast. As society enters a super-aged phase, death occurs more often and in greater numbers, and with the rise of single-person households, solitary deaths and unclaimed deaths are increasing year by year.

Death is no longer an issue for individuals alone but a problem that the whole society must confront. What, then, is a good death for us now? In a reality where most people meet death through illness and pain, is there no such thing as a good death? We searched for answers in living funerals and cemetery tours; in corpse hotels and gatherings for the bereaved in Japan, a ‘society of many deaths’; and in deaths witnessed in public funerals and hospice care.

KBS1 ‘Docu Insight’

A funeral inevitably follows death. More important than form and procedure is protecting the dignity of the deceased and the spirit of mourning. Funeral director Kim Young-rae, with 30 years of experience, conducts funerals centered on the deceased rather than on the chief mourner. For Kim, preparing and shrouding the body is akin to safeguarding human dignity. The bodies of the dead should be respected as if they were among the living.

Some people hold their own funerals while still alive. A living funeral is a time for family and friends to gather before death arrives and spend meaningful time together. A culture of preparing for death, rather than facing it suddenly, is taking shape.

There are also those who go on cemetery tours. By preparing in advance for what will happen after death, they also look back on life today. In everyday life, we should be able to talk more about death.

Having encountered a super-aged society earlier, Japan entered a ‘society of many deaths’ ahead of others. Death is no longer unfamiliar; it has become part of everyday life. With deaths surging and crematoria in short supply, Japan is seeing a rise in corpse hotels that can store remains and even hold funerals.

KBS1 ‘Docu Insight’

There is even a firsthand coffin-entry experience in which participants get into a coffin themselves. Inside the coffin, participants come to feel anew the value of living time and of family, rather than fear of death. Death-studies scholar Mr. Kotani created a group to help those whose partners have died and who are living with anxiety. In a society of many deaths, anxiety about life and death is growing for people living alone.

Deaths among the isolated, such as solitary deaths and unclaimed deaths, are increasing every year. The Busan Public Funeral Condolence Group is a civic organization that accompanies the final journey of those who died amid poverty and isolation. They say that everyone has the right to mourn and to be mourned.

The final leg of a good death is hospice. Hospice helps control pain to lessen suffering and allows the dying to reach the end in comfort. With care provided by medical staff, clergy, social workers, and volunteers together, patients spend the last period of life in a peaceful daily routine with family. In seeking a good death in hospice, we first encountered a life where tranquility and dignity coexist.

‘Docu Insight’ episode ‘Asking About a Good Death’ will air on KBS1 at 10 p.m. on Thursday, May 7, 2026.

KBS1 ‘Docu Insight’