seppuku

noun

Etymology: Borrowed from Japanese 切腹 (seppuku), from Middle Chinese 切 (t͡set, “to cut”) + 腹 (pjuwk, “belly”). Compare Cantonese 切腹 (cit³ fuk¹) and Mandarin 切腹 (qiēfù).

1. A form of ritual suicide by disembowelment using a blade, practiced by Japanese samurai, especially to rid oneself of shame, as a means of protest, or, formerly, as a method of capital punishment.

   ““I feel like the only solution is pretty clear,” he said during one online news program in late 2021. “In the end, isn’t it mass suicide and mass ‘seppuku’ of the elderly?” […] At a panel hosted by Globis, a Japanese graduate business school, Dr. Narita told the audience that “if this can become a Japanese society where people like you all commit seppuku one after another, it wouldn’t be just a social security policy but it would be the best ‘Cool Japan’ policy.””