スキップしてメイン コンテンツに移動

Caring for

This poem portrays the harsh reality that receiving medical treatment and long-term care is becoming an increasingly difficult ordeal for people living in rural areas. It addresses the decline of regional healthcare caused by depopulation, widening disparities in caregiving services, the anguish of families forced to move to major cities, and the injustice of a society where life and dignity are influenced by financial means. Beneath its quiet yet powerful anger lies a profound truth: to “care for” someone means far more than providing treatment—it is an enduring act of love, presence, and commitment to remain by another’s side.

Caring for

As local healthcare declines in function,
population loss shows no sign of stopping.
Hospitals struggle under financial deficits.
Treatment and hospitalization are governed by management priorities.
Patients bear rising costs for care and medication,
and more people refrain from seeking treatment.
Even access to expensive therapies reveals stark economic inequality.
Is financial strength what separates life from death?

Under long-term care insurance, regional disparities widen even further.
People are compelled to pay into the system,
yet remain confined at home without receiving services.
An aging society rapidly amplifies anxiety about old age.
Municipal welfare budgets continue to shrink.
Dementia care involves not only functional assessments
but profound questions about how one lives.
Public support offers little hope of lasting sustainability;
people are told to rely on themselves and on one another.
Are there so few choices in how one may die?

The steady flow of people into Sapporo—
is it an escape from rural communities
in search of medical treatment and caregiving?
People lose faith in local hospitals where even hospitalization
does not allow loved ones to provide care.
Those burdened with serious illnesses such as cancer come to Sapporo.
Some friends travel regularly from remote islands
to accompany family members to appointments.
They move with one heartfelt wish: to be present at the end of life.
Transportation and lodging costs in Sapporo for caregiving
are far from trivial.
Savings set aside for old age vanish in no time.
Does the saying “even in hell, money matters”
reflect the spirit of our times?

The ideal of fair access to healthcare and caregiving
is little more than a picture of a rice cake—beautiful, but inedible.
A society in which those living with illness can feel secure
drifts ever farther away.
Those who nurse and care for others
experience the full severity of what it means simply to stay beside them.
Each time the greedy bring war into the world,
ordinary life becomes harder to sustain.
The world’s chain of suffering leads us toward a future
where neither healthcare nor welfare can be shared by all.

Written on May 14, 2026. Human beings with too little imagination toy with life and livelihood.

このブログの人気の投稿

Knowing at Sunset　(New Year’s Card, 2026)

his poem reflects on life as it is seen at sunset— not as an ending, but as a moment when past light, lingering warmth, and the promise of a new dawn quietly coexist. Knowing at sunset — the gradations of a life. Passion has not yet cooled; the days bathed in sunlight now lie distant. Life glows in the lingering afterlight. Melting into sunset — the strange encounters a life bestows. Benevolence remains precious still; with the sun at one ’ s back, shadows are cast. Life resounds in the hues of evening. Cherishing the beauty of sunset — the last story of a life. Embers have not yet burned out; in the stillness that reaches culmination, one is suffused by a new sun.
Read more »

To Those Guided by Young Children

This poem listens to life as it is reflected in young children— their gaze, their silence, their small questions. Each moment asks something of us, quietly but unmistakably, calling not for sentiment, but for responsibility, care, and action. To Those Guided by Young Children To meet the gaze of a young child demands a sincerity that faces them head-on. In a young child’s tears, an anger that must not be indulged is questioned. In a young child’s smile, the meaning of selfless joy is questioned. In a young child’s gestures, the warmth of an embracing presence is questioned. In a young child’s fragile voice, our readiness to respond without delay is questioned. In a young child’s silence, the wisdom to sense the heart beyond words is questioned. In a young child’s small questions, our breadth of vision toward the world is questioned In the radiance of a young child’s life, our resolve to protect the present is questioned. The peace a young child seeks without cease mu...
Read more »

A World of Right and Wrong

This poem examines a world where the line between right and wrong is deliberately blurred. By questioning language, justification, and power, it confronts the moral evasions that sustain domination and asks what happens when self-overcoming is refused.   A World of Right and Wrong   When facing a matter, we must examine our way of thinking. We must examine our use of words. We must examine our everyday conduct.   What is the basis that claims alignment with reason? What is the basis for asserting what is “ right ” ? What is the basis for believing one is doing good?   Is a slip of the tongue a lie meant to protect oneself? Is a mocking laugh arrogance that looks down on others? Is failure nothing more than shifting responsibility?   Self-serving values are proclaimed as legitimate. Self-centered ethics are boasted as humanitarian. Ego-driven morality is substituted for education.   One secures absolute c...
Read more »