It has been raining again since early this morning, and I am beginning to wonder how long this weather will continue.
After finally getting through yesterday’s pathology presentation, I should probably be thinking only about the peer review that still remains on my desk. Instead, my attention was caught by something much more ordinary: the number of celebrity obituaries that seem to appear in the news these days.
Actors, athletes, cultural figures, business leaders, politicians—the list seems endless.
Of course, people are not necessarily dying more often. What may have changed is the range of people we now regard as “famous.” As society has become more diverse, so have our interests, our media, and the people we recognize.
Perhaps the growing number of obituaries we notice is really another symptom of something much larger: the sheer saturation of information in modern life.
It has been raining again since early this morning.
How long is this going to continue?
There was a movie in which Tokyo became submerged by endless rain, and lately it feels rather like that.
Yesterday, I somehow managed to get through my pathology presentation without serious trouble.
“Got through it” may not be quite the right expression. My father liked to say that someone had kemuri ni maita—literally, “wrapped people in smoke,” meaning that he had somehow talked his way through without giving a perfectly clear answer.
That may be closer to what I did.
In any case, one burden has been lifted from my shoulders.
Once I finish the peer review I rather carelessly agreed to take on, this recent period of busyness should finally settle down.
Lately, I seem to hear about the deaths of famous people all the time.
This morning’s newspaper also carried the obituary of an actor who made me think, “Ah yes, he had a rather distinctive presence.”
Cultural figures, athletes, actors, business leaders, politicians.
People from every field die every day.
Of course, there are many whose names I do not know, and others I had completely forgotten.
At times like that, I sometimes feel slightly embarrassed by my own ignorance.
How could I not have known someone like this?
But there are simply so many such people now that I have begun to wonder whether there is any reason to feel embarrassed at all.
Perhaps there are simply too many people who can now be called “famous.”
One reason may be the increasing diversity of society.
In the past, people’s interests were not divided into nearly as many categories as they are today.
In entertainment, for example, famous people tended to come from a relatively limited world: movie stars from the old studio era, kabuki actors, singers, and a few other highly visible groups.
Now, however, the actors, television personalities, presenters, and commentators who supported the television age are growing older one after another.
As a result, we increasingly come across obituaries that make us say, “Oh yes, I remember that person.”
The same is true of sports.
In the past, baseball, sumo, professional wrestling, and boxing were among the most visible spectator sports in Japan.
Today, basketball, rugby, tennis, golf, athletics, martial arts, and many other sports all have large groups of devoted fans.
Many of the athletes from these later-growing sports are still relatively young, so we do not yet hear many obituaries from those generations.
But several decades from now, their deaths too will undoubtedly be reported one after another.
Social diversification is not, of course, increasing the number of deaths themselves.
What it has done is greatly expand the range of people whom we recognize as “famous.”
And as that range expands, we encounter more obituaries.
It is a rather strange phenomenon.
But perhaps it is really the result of the enormous increase in the amount of information surrounding us.
Will we eventually start seeing obituaries even for less widely known public figures?
Or will the number become so overwhelming that news organizations will decide there is little point in reporting every one of them?
Perhaps one day, we will simply think,
“I wonder what happened to that person?”
Then we will look them up on Wikipedia and discover either,
“Oh, they are still alive,”
or,
“What? They died years ago?”
Perhaps that is how things will gradually change.
The deaths of people we have already forgotten may no longer be something that needs to be actively delivered to us as news.
In a modern society where information is increasing at an explosive rate, even keeping track of who has died is becoming one more burden of information to absorb.
In an age of information overload, even an obituary can become one more piece of information we are simply too full to take in.
・・・
Vocabulary for Learners
obituary
A notice or article reporting someone’s death, often describing their life and achievements.
死亡記事、訃報
distinctive presence
A quality that makes someone memorable or recognizable.
独特の存在感
public figure
A person who is widely known because of their work, position, or activities.
著名人、公人
diversification
The process of becoming more varied or divided into different types.
多様化
devoted fan
A person who strongly supports and follows a particular team, athlete, artist, or activity.
熱心なファン
information overload
A situation in which there is so much information that it becomes difficult to process.
情報過多、情報の飽和
keep track of
To continue knowing what is happening with someone or something.
動向を把握する、追い続ける
absorb information
To take in and understand information.
情報を取り入れて理解する
#InformationOverload #CelebrityObituaries #SocialChange #Media #ModernSociety #KAMAKURA #JapanesePathologist
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