Access to high-quality care at the end-of-life is a fundamental human right; therefore, it is necessary to examine how end-of-life care should be taught in nursing education to prepare for a super-aging society. Japan and Hong Kong are both in the East Asian region and are facing similar super-aging challenges, such as increased mortality and declining birth rates. This paper explores the literature on this topic and discusses how end-of-life care is taught in undergraduate nursing education in both Japan and Hong Kong. A comprehensive literature search was performed using end-of-life care keywords. Subsequently, the authors engaged in a discourse on expert perspectives, insights, and results from the literature. It is necessary to bridge the gap between the desired manner of spending oneʼs final days and the practical reality of considering patientsʼ best interests by referring to the existing policies, laws, guidelines, and frameworks of healthcare systems. This study suggests the importance of understanding patientsʼ views on life, death, values, and cultural backgrounds and educating healthcare personnel to apply these principles flexibly in their practice.

The purpose of this study was to compare demographic trends in the aging of the Japanese and Brazilian populations on the basis of health indicator data collected by the statistics bureaus of the Japanese and Brazilian governments. The demographic and health indicator data from surveys by the Statistics Bureaus of the Japanese and Brazilian governments and other sources were obtained from websites. The data showed that Japan has an aging population, that the number of elderly persons in Japan is increasing and that the Government of Japan has a plan to address future demands for health resources by this aging population, whereas Brazil has a rapidly population aging but no plan for its future health services. Brazil may need to increase the number of hospitals and hospital beds and develop a medical care plan for the elderly within its Unified Health System.