Suicide in Japan.
 

こんにちは皆さん、

I am in the process of gathering information for my research project about suicide in japan and I just wanted to ask everyone a few questions...feel free to comment with any other arguments or opinions you have on the topic.

1. Why do you think Japan has one of the highest suicides rates in the world?

2. How can these suicide rates be decreased in the future?

3. Do you think this high rate of suicide is due to the effects of the globalization in Japan?

*I'm not asking if suicide in Japan is right or wrong with it's past history of ritualistic suicide-just, why is it increasing now?

Any answer will help! Please leave your age and general location in the world as well!!

ありがとうございました！

1) Culturally there is no shame in committing suicide when you make a major mistake. There is a long tradition of suicide in Japanese history. Traditionally it is an honorable act.

2) It depends on why people commit suicide. Some do it for financial reasons, others because of hazing, political reasons, copycats, etc.

3) No. Where did you come up with that idea?

Thank you for your response! And to answer your question I wanted to argue that the increase of suicide in Japan is a result of Westernization, commercialism and the materialism that is really at the root of globalization...I don't think my argument is completely in the wrong...I have a feeling I worded that last question a bit strangely. Sorry.

1. I think that Japan could have the highest in the world possibly because of peoples honr and sucsessfulness. It really just depends if that person is ashamed or not.

2. They can be decreased by a happier and more succsessful lifetime.

3. Not that sure what globalization means but I do think that America has its effects on other counrty's cultires and ways of life.

I'm 13 and I live in the US.
Hope this helps:vsign:

I am curious as to how you would come to that conclusion, as I don't see the possible correlations.

The three main reasons for suicide in Japan are depression, illness and debt. A lot of those that do it are elderly.

1. Ditto what MMM said. It's always been far more acceptable to commit suicide in Japan as there's no great religious taboo associated with it.

2. It's possible that Japanese citizens could benefit from a more openly available mental health service.

3. No. That's crazy. If you want to say the financial situation of modern japan which has been turbulent ~as a result~ of dealings with outside economy is a factor in the suicide rate, then thats one thing. But Suicide is individual. You commit suicide you feel you've shamed and failed your family and the reasons for that sense of shame are deeply rooted in ~japanese~ culture. The debt situation may be caused by the outside world, but the tendency to resort to suicide is Japanese.

What do you think anyway? What's your angle on the situation and have you looked in detail at suicide demographics in Japan? I want to know how my information/opinion is going to be used in what seems to be a research essay.

Without pretending to know all about Japanese culture and tradition, I think there's not much doubt that suicide is, traditionally, not as frowned upon as it is in a lot of Western cultures. (Samurai seem to have been particularly big fans. :p)

We tend to see suicide as cowardice, (at least I do,) but as MMM says, the Japanese consider it somehow more honorable.

I also don't see how America plays into it all. As previously mentioned, American culture along with most other Western cultures does not really approve of suicide. After all, samurai were busy gutting themselves hundreds of years before modern-day America was even thought of.

Yes but isn't mainly caused by the connections with globalization and the pressure and responsibility that is placed upon the Japanese to succeed? Because of this they seem to commit suicide in atonement for their failure in life (debt, loss of job, etc.) I don't get how you can just take globalization out of the equation as suicide rises in Japan due to the effects of globalization Japan. In today's case, an economic depression...


Also, your answer will just provide for a general idea of how people view suicide in Japan and what some of the causes are, etc. It's nothing professional, trust me.

You seemed determined to associate suicide with globalization, but suicide is a personal act, where globalization is...global.

But I guess I am not sure what you mean by globalization here. Are you talking about westernization?

By that assumption you have to prove that Japan has been "westernized". With that, why would westernization lead to suicide? Even if Japan perceived itself as becoming westernized (and I am not convinced they do) wouldn't that make the suicide rate go down, as westernized Christian values do not allow for suicide?

Pressure to succeed and committing suicide because of failure has been a part of Japanese culture long before the West hit Japanese shores.

What are the effects of globalization in Japan that you are talking about?

I think you are trying to go this way Globalization leads to Economic Crisis in Japan leads to Higher Suicide, therefore Globalization leads to Higher Suicide, which is an incorrect conclusion.

Why wasn't the suicide rate higher in the 80s when Japan was globalizing all over the place during the bubble economy? Obviously when things are financially good and people are successful then suicide doesn't happen as much. Apparently economic failure is a key factor.

In my job in Japan I dealt with this a lot, most weren't elderly. Most of them were unhappy housewives followed by teenagers who wanted to "get back at someone" (parents, boy or girlfriend, peers).
The difference is that there is no stigma attached to it there like here in the West. I think things will change as Japanese adopt more Western beliefs.