Asahi Shimbun Morning Edition, October 2, 1999
A gentleman, nearing retirement and seeing his dream of joining the executive ranks vanish, visited an outpatient clinic, shoulders slumped in despair, expressing deep hopelessness and depression. A woman who had just started thinking about traveling to hot springs with her husband after their daughters had married off lost him to a heart attack. She tearfully confessed, “I have lost the will to live,” suffering from a depressive state accompanied by panic attacks.
After the age of fifty, responsibilities at work and home, as well as social and financial burdens, weigh heavily. The decline of physical strength, illness, the passing of predecessors, and children leaving home bring successive losses, making it difficult to maintain one’s sense of self. No matter how well one prepares, a midlife crisis is hard to avoid.
The 1996 film Unhook the Stars portrays a woman’s midlife crisis, played by Gena Rowlands, who previously depicted a schizophrenic wife in A Woman Under the Influence. She lives on her pension after her husband’s passing. Her married son does not want to live with her, and her daughter runs away from home. She struggles with a loss of purpose in life but gradually finds joy in taking care of a neighbor’s child. The child actor is Jake Lloyd, who played young Anakin in Star Wars: Episode I.
However, she cannot replace a real mother. When her son, who once rejected her, suddenly asks her to move in and help with his newborn, she refuses. Instead, she sells her house and embarks on a journey to start a new life on her own.
In Donnie Brasco (1997), Johnny Depp plays an undercover FBI agent, while Al Pacino portrays a middle-aged man trapped in the rigid hierarchy of the Mafia. At home, he wears a tracksuit, putting on a brave face. Yet, in a heart-wrenching scene, when his wife isn’t looking, he borrows $200 from Depp’s character—the only person he can rely on. The struggles of middle-aged men in corporate Japan mirror this portrayal.
The gentleman in crisis decided to stay at his company until retirement and began considering opening an izakaya afterward. The widowed woman, rather than returning to her parents or siblings, started thinking about moving into a senior residence. Preventing suicide during a midlife crisis is crucial. Even if not dramatic, there are many ways to navigate through life’s challenges.
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