Japan, one of the most industrialized countries in the world, is also known for its high suicide rates. Yahoo! News recently confirmed that Japan’s number of suicides reached above 30,000 for the 13th straight year. Compared to the United States (11 per 100,000 people) and the United Kingdom (9 per 100,000 people), Japan has double the figures as the statistics show about 25 suicides per 100,000 people. Some of the main causes of the country’s high suicide rate involve unemployment, failure to get into a university, depression, and stress. The current popular methods to perform suicide involve jumping in front of railroad trains, leaping off high places, overdosing on medication, hanging, and the inhalation of hydrogen sulfide. In the modern era, some popular places for suicide are railroad tracks, high-storied buildings, households and the famous Aokigahara, a forested area at the base of Mount Fuji (where nearly 30-100 suicides occur per year).
The fascination in all of this is the laid-back cultural attitude regarding suicide. Historically, suicide has been one of the cultural norms since the Edo period of Japan. Seppuku, also known as hara-kiri, was a ritualistic suicide that was part of bushido, the code of conduct for samurais. In an attempt to atone for bringing shame and preserving one’s honor, a samurai performed seppuku by cutting his own abdomen and being decapitated by an assistant. Even after the period of the samurai warriors, the idea of seppuku had been popularized through Kabuki theater love plays, romanticizing the act, and historical standpoints in history, such as the numerous seppuku acts performed in front of the imperial palace after Japan’s surrender in World War II. Even today’s suicide acts, which most are not considered seppuku, possesses a sense of ‘preserving honor’. Due to the historical aspect of what suicide means to Japan as a culture makes this article on Yahoo! News and others an interesting read. It definitely made me browse over the internet and search stories that connect these ideas to Japanese culture (I recommend the historically-based legend, 47 Ronins).
Prior to reading the article, I was already under the assumption that Japan had the highest suicide rate mainly because of the multiple stories I heard or read about students failing the entrance examination and not getting into the university they desired for. After reading a couple of articles, I change my position on this stance and agree that the high suicide rate correlates with the increasing instability in Japan’s (and even global) economy. The economy affects every industry in Japan, including the college entrance examinations and the universities. The economy’s increasing instability also correlates with the increasing rate of mental illness, which is one the main causes that leads to Japan’s high suicide rate.
Efforts to reduce the high incidence of suicides have been implemented by the government and other outlets. In recent years, the Japanese government developed multiple intervention programs and prevention policies. Other outlets such as volunteers or Shinto priests have provided counseling to prevent people killing themselves. While their efforts have made some strides, the fact that Japan is on its 13th straight year of being a top global hotspot for suicide shows that no significant positive impact has been made yet. If Japan plans to aggressively combat this stigma, one of their first solutions is to increase manpower. Several suicidal prevention hotlines in Japan only contain about 30 workers for each organization, while doubling that number would prove more beneficial and effective. Another solution is to change the cultural attitude of ‘preserving honor’. It would be tough to change Japan’s idea of suicide through a Judaeo-Christian perspective of sin but modern times demand change. However, the staggered economy makes progress to decrease the suicide rate difficult.
Sources
- 101East – Land of rising suicide, 2010, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b4zoa1xJShU&feature=youtube_gdata_player.
- “Japan: ending the culture of the ‘honourable’ suicide | Andrew Chambers | Comment is free | guardian.co.uk,” August 3, 2010, http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2010/aug/03/japan-honourable-suicide-rate.
- “Japan suicides dip but still among world’s highest.”
Yahoo! News. 3 March 2011. Web. 3 March. 2011.
- “World’s suicide capital — tough image to shake,” Japan Times Online, November 20, 2007, http://search.japantimes.co.jp/cgi-bin/nn20071120i1.html.
I was not aware of the suicide rates in any of the country’s mentioned. I know the economy worldwide is not the best and I know financial strains and pressure can put people under tons of stress but I had no idea they were committing suicide. I find Japan’s suicide rate very surprising especially because I have always viewed Japan as a prosperous innovative society. As for combating the problem, the suicide rate will decrease as the economy becomes better. Unfortunately, it seems like this will have to be something that improves with time. Even though Japan has become very Westernized within the past few years, changing their idea of suicide preserving honor with be difficult. Japanese society seems to uphold tradition very well and this is part of tradition. If any change is to happen regarding thsi matter it has to come from the Japanese not through the imposition of Western views. It is great that the government is implementing intervention programs because it will be closer together those who feel that they are alone.