In 2023, writer Keiko Ochiai, now 81, learned that she had lung cancer.

Her first resolve was simple but unwavering: she would continue to make her own choices. It was her life, her illness and she would not surrender that agency.

In her recent book, “Gan to Ikikiru” (Living fully with cancer), she recalls her state of mind at the time. She was determined not to “outsource” decisions about her treatment to the medical professionals around her—not to default to the familiar phrase, “I'll leave it all up to you.”

Yet, once hospitalized, Ochiai found herself slipping into a different reality—one in which individuality is quietly eroded. She describes being “rounded off,” reduced to just another “average........

© The Asahi Shimbun