Grief education and bereavement support in Japan.

Abstract

This paper introduces the activities of the Japanese Association for Death Education and Grief Counseling, highlighting especially its grief education and bereavement support program. Because of greater life expectancy, most women in Japan will one day experience the death of their husbands, therefore pre-widowhood education programs are offered to married women in order to prepare them for widowhood. Memorial services, Buddhist, Christian and non-religious, are offered for bereaved persons. The search for a new self-identity after bereavement, the role of volunteer work, and the search for meaning in loss and bereavement are discussed. The issues of disenfranchised grief and grief after death from overwork are important themes in grief education.