The purpose of this paper is threefold : (1) to define and to understand the Kodokushi phenomenon and its causes ; (2) to apprehend and discuss its implications to Japan and its society in the time when its population is shrinking; and (3) to assess the measures and initiatives taken by the all implied actors (State, local governments, civil society…) in order to diminish this phenomenon and to see how the Japanese experience especially on the level of civil society, could be imitate and multiplied in other countries which face the same problem.