Japan's suicide rate for job seekers jumps
 

I choose to put this article in the "Living in Japan" thread because it has to do with Japanese jobless rates and suicide. Though i dont like to use CNN as a source i came across the article this morning and verified through other sources. Suicide went up in every industrialized nation because of the financial crises. But Japanese numbers went through the roof again. Japan has been over 30,000 suicides per year for the past 13 years The sad part of the article is the jump in suicides by students it increased 130%. Other demographics are woven into the figures as well. I truly feel bad for these people who feel taking their lives is the best way to go. The stigma of mental health care still looms in Japan.

Japan's suicide rate for job seekers jumps - CNN.com

Interesting, given the fact that Japan's jobless rate is half that of America, an 1/4 that of some European countries.

Japan is a strange place when it comes to issues like employment, education, and suicide, the Japanese seem to be becoming more insular. Safety is the number one priority when it comes to finding work, more so than the type of work or the amount of pay. And graduating students are often reluctant to accept job offers if they are required to move to other parts of the country.

The education system trains you to be an entry-level salaryman, rather than providing a real learning experience, and it provides little guidance for those who wish to take a different path in life. The government regulates how many university subjects may be taught, so many students end up having to study something they don't want to learn in order to qualify for careers that they never wanted to enter.

Japan's ills are symptoms of greater problems, and things are likely to get worse before they get better.

what's wrong with suicide as an answer?
you get tired of life so you decide to end it quicker. that is the only thing that actually belongs to a person so why not use it how and when you see fit? O.o

i don't think it is nice to call these people mentally ill since most of them aren't. if anything it's a stigma carried from governments since they lose workforce.

I agree i think this is just tip of the iceberg and i do believe things are going to get worse. It seems the Japanese limit themselves in terms of what work they can do and will decline offers. While in western countries if you are struggling you get a 2nd job or take a job that may not be so glamorous till you find something more lucrative.

I dont think the Japanese are taught how to survive when things get tough. I remember when i was in school many of professors not only taught how to survive in the business world but they also taught how to stay afloat when things like the economy get tough.

With the population getting older and the birthrate dropping every year and the rate of suicides increasing every year Japan is going to have a real problem on their hands in the next 20 years or so. If they continue to resist foreign workers i dont see how they can have a reliable work force in time.

To have 30,000 suicides per year for 13 years blows my mind. However i have not looked up how many suicides there are per year in the US or Europe. which im going to do right now

You entire statement shows me you did not read the article at all. Try reading it before you respond.

my statement wasn't connected with the article...
i just noted that in my point of view people are free to chose when and how to leave this world for whatever reasons, and should not be thought of as somehow mentally damaged.

it's a pity that in Japan people are prepared for a job, not for a life in educational system.

I agree with your statements! Just look how American kids handle such situations.. they drag 15 more innocent people into death.

Sweden as well has a very high suicide rate.

I'm in a Japanese language class at my high school and we also focus on the culture in Japan. My teacher has been there and she is very fluent with the language. Anyway, she told us a couple days ago that kids in Japan are pressured a lot in high school to get perfect grades. It's what makes your family honorable, to have a good job. There are some awful tests at the very end of a Japanese student's school career. These tests all take place over a week's time and the students refer to it as "Hell week". in this time period, several students commit suicide because of the immense pressure they are under. But what may seem odd to people of other cultures, Japanese people see absolutley nothing wrong with this. Japanese people truly think suicide is an honorable way to die. This could be because of their religion. In a lot of countries, Chritsianity or Catholicism dominates. In Japan, they have religions that are very different than these two. Apparantly, it is quite acceptable for Japanese people to take their own lives. They don't see anything wrong with it.

What religion are you talking about?

Isn't it true that Japanese as a whole view death in a different way than those in the West have been taught? I believe that Catholics are taught that if you commit suicide, you won't go to Heaven, yet in feudal Japan, ritual suicide was an honorable thing. I may be accused of generalizing or overly simplifying things, but I wonder if our views and their views of suicide aren't based on different ideologies.

Correct the Japanese do have a different view of death and suicide. The problem is the sheer number of people killing themselves per year. At this point its almost an epidemic of massive proportions. The problem is not just the extreme amount of pressure student are under there are many other factors. Mental health treatment is high looked down upon in Japanese society. There are millions of people that suffer from chronic depression. In most western countries one would get help from a therapist and/or get on medication to even themselves out and live fruitful lives. This is not the case in Japan many people do not seek treatment because of the social stigma and eventually end up killing themselves. So add a tremendous amount of pressure to do well in school, Then add in that you cant find a job after the hell you went through just to graduate One might start to feeling depressed and as time goes on it gets worse and worse you have potent scenario for suicide. Also, kids in Japan kill themselves over bullying as well as oppose in the US where the bullied takes out the whole school.

Religion does not play a part as Japan does not have national religion. Regardless i find a lot of it sad that people feel there is no other choice but to take ones own life when things get hard.

Is this true? I don't think it has anything to do with their religion but more the pressure these people are under. I don't know if Japan has a benefits system for unemployed people (will look it up) but I have seen photos of the homeless in Japan showing the stark reality of being out of work. Course, not all homeless are on the streets for that reason.

I don't get how they live in such an amazing country and then they do this.I hate the salaryman culture. They even made a song about it as if it was a good thing.

They do need to sort out the social stigma about mental health.

I wonder if people even have time to seek help for that kind of thing.

The problem isn't the pressure, but in how they deal with it. Relatively speaking, Japan is a prosperous country where most people do very well. But many Japanese have a limited perspective about themselves and the world. In high school they work themselves to death to pass university entrance exams, but the universities are mediocre at best, where professors are little more than tape players reading uninspiring lectures to students who need real-world knowledge and guidance.

Working life is not that great either, the hours are long, the work boring, and the pay is seniority-based rather than merit-based, so even those young people who have talent or skill are unable to rise up in the company other than by putting in long years. In Japan the boss is always right, even when he is flat wrong.

The universities cater to this business system, so they don't bother to teach initiative, debate, or outside-the-box thinking. And many Japanese would love to live outside the box, but simply don't know how.

This system plays a great part in Japan's low birth rate, and Japan's increasing inability to compete in international business, and the suicide rate.

Suicide is the great "non-answer". Your life is the greatest of all gifts, and throwing it away over the inability to deal with the problems of he world only adds another problem. It is much better to live for something than to die for it.

What do you think happens to the families of those who commit suicide? Mental health problems are a stigma, but an even worse one is when someone in your family commits suicide.

If you throw yourself in front of a train in Japan, your family is going to be hit with a huge bill. They will be forced to pay the railroad for the income lost by delaying the train. This typically runs in the tens of thousands of dollars. If you jump in front of the Shinkansen, it could cost one million dollares. If you commit suicide in an apartment building, your family will have to pay the landlord damages as no one will rent an apartment where there as been a suicide. The financial cost of 30,000 suicides per year is staggering, to families and to the economy.

If you hate your life so much, don't throw it away, just give it to someone else. Join the Peace Corps, the military, or become a migrant farm worker, any of these jobs will put your life to good use, and perhaps even teach you how to live yourself.

dude. there are ways to kill yourself without a f**king train...why japanese are always jumping in front of them? take nice load of aspirin and it will be done.

lol. exactly what you just said "well, if you hate your life then.....GO AND WORK!" is like any government would want you to since workforce killing themselves is costly for society.

and ill stick by that - if you want to then go ahead, kill yourself, you won't be judged by me.

P.S those 30 000 Japanese only make up for 3% of worlds suicides. not exactly an epidemic.

bill
 

What? How a family could pay for suicide member?

I have heard that this is true. Shutting down a train line costs hundreds of thousands of yen a minute.

thousands of yen
 

Yes, I understood.
But why other family members MUST pay compensation to, say, railway company for suicide one? Are they guilty for his (her) suicide action? If so, it is rather strange.

Yes, but the number in proportion to Japan's population is high, and despite Japan's small size, it is still the world's third largest economy. As such, Japan's suicide rate has a subtle influence on the world's economy, in other words it even affects your life.

Life isn't about work, it is about living. Work is a basic part of life, and even animals must do it if they want to survive. In the old days grief stricken people would emigrate, or join the foreign legion and often they found a new reason to live. The government has nothing to do with it.

There are many ways to commit suicide, an few people are as ingenious as the Japanese when it comes to creative ways to commit suicide, but regardless of the method, if they have any living family, then their family members are going to bear a large cost.

In Japan, personal responsibility goes beyond the individual. You are responsible for your family member's actions to an extent. It's a strange place. If I am driving my car and sitting stopped at a red light, and someone driving behind me isn't paying attention and crashes into me, I will be held partially responsible for the accident. It doesn't matter that I did nothing wrong.

Recently a drunk driver got into an accident and killed two high school boys who were walking along the road. The passenger in the car, as well as the bartender who served the drinks were also charged with and convicted of manslaughter.

It's an interesting country.

responsibility
 

:eek: I am TOTALLY shocked.:eek:

Yes, INDEED. And very interesting laws, I would add.

Its not an epidemic but i feel it could be the beginning of one. Its not a matter of the worlds population this is about Japan and Japan alone. For a country whose population is not only rapidly aging but has such a low birthrate the sheer amount of suicides is staggering. This not only effects Japans economy but that of any country that has trade with them therefore also effecting you.

Here you do the math

*In 2010 the Japanese population was roughly 127.08 million.

*There were roughly 2,186,121 foreign residents (but that number has started to drop and fast) so that puts the native Japanese population at around 124.8 million roughly

*More than 20 percent of Japan's total population is over 65 years old and only 13 percent is under 15.


*The number of suicides was at a 13 year high with 30,000 reported. The problem is not decreasing its increasing thats 26 suicides per 100,000 people. This amounts to approximately one suicide every 15 minutes.

Now add the low birth rate, rapid aging work force, drop in foreign residents working in the country, The reluctance of Japan to adopt a foreign work force policy and the high rate of suicide. What kind of potential problem do you have? I think its obvious at this point.

All I can think about this is that it might help Japan's population. I have only heard that it is much too high. From every person I talk to about going to Japan, they have told me the population was too high. It would be so crowded there and very difficult to find a good job. This may not be good after a long period of time, but it might change after a short time. For now it might help the country, though I am NOT encouraging it. I'm just saying.

and I didn't wanna go to highschool like that. so I chose to go to high school which I could graduate with doing nothing as long as my parents pay the tuition. right. some pitiful families think that way. I had no tests in my high school we see that thing more than wrong. we consider the increase of suicide rate as serious social problem we're holding. that's only for samurais who fought bravely and refused to be shameful pow. most of us think people who commit suicide are dumba** majority of japanese are atheist. not acceptable. we see that thing damn wrong. people who commit suicide are people who don't have any imagination to make their own lives meaningful and precious.

WHAT? You think suicide is good as a form of population control?

How can you go to a country and by walking around determine the population is too high?

to me, the biggest problem is the education system. every kid was taught to be accurate parts of a device which is called society. teachers force kids to learn how to be ideal person for working in the companies regardless everyones' personality. so kids become kinda like emotionless robots. that makes them commit suicide when they can't adjust the average of society. they feel they're unnecessary existence when they fail to adjust to the society. I call those people idiots. look around and see the every single spot of our society. Homeless people often look happier than salaryman because they have more freedom. there are a lot of people who make money without being salaryman. being salaryman a'int the only way to live. what school teaches you isn't the only ideal life. what majority of society does isn't the best thing for every single individual.

Tipsygypsy this is what i have also learned from several friends iv made who have moved to the US or came here to go to school. So hearing it from you make me feel this is a big part of the problem that needs to be addressed first. In Japan its not about the individual its about fitting into you niche in society. Everyones heard the phrase "the nail that sticks out get hammered" So people conform to what their teachers tell them society wants them to be. Then they get into the real world and find out things are not as simple as being a robot. They cant adjust. they get depressed and stressed out and instead of trying to change their way of thinking or how they live they life they just take it. Thanks for your insight.

@HimeChan13 your comments scare me. I hope im just misunderstanding you but suicide as a form of population control is just wrong. btw i dont know where you heard Japan overcrowded. From my research its not its that a lot of people live in the cities Japan has a lot of rural land and the population is less there. Its just like the US populations drop as you get out of the cities and get into the country side.

if im wrong someone please correct me.

Cool. thanks for the insight.

:vsign:

@Himechan13 Maybe your thinking of China. They instigated a One child policy back in '79 to control the population. Although that is currently being revised.

This whole situation is really depressing.

I as well always heard from my Korean and Japanese friends, how hard the young people have too study and how much pressure is upon there shoulders. It's really sad!


And on top of all this the Japanese goverment doesn't even care about the people who don't quite make it under this pressure. Like the people who for example do part times jobs to get by.. I just recently watched a docu about so called "Freeters" wich was also really depressing to watch. You really should watch them if you don't know about these people. It's so common for us, but so unaccepted in Japan.

Tokyo Freeters!

well, i wanna say "get rid of it" to those kids who feel pressure upon their shoulder. I wonder why they never realize that they can make choices. Choices like learning by themselves,not at school. and I'm so called freeter. what's wrong with that? I make more money than I needed. being a freeter is kinda fascinating way of life to me. I can have more time than salaryman have. so I can trade stocks in my spare time. I'm even thinking of investing real estates now. salaryman a'int got no time for that. they are too busy managing their own buisiness.

I hear you my friend! I just wish it would be accepted. It's just like you call it, a way of life! And this is absolutely correct. If you choose that this is what you want to do, so should it be and nobody should point the finger at you for this. This is what the Japanese goverment and "People" in general need to understand.

Thank you man. I think Japanese kids need to think hard instead of studying hard to be robots. They should be aware of what to make more efforts on.

Totally agree. Everyone should be able to make their own choices in life and how they live it. Good for you man.

Well at least I won't have had the Japanese education system! Everyone fails at education except for maybe Africa and India. Even then they've gotta come up with the money for it.

Well this is one sad side of japan, but its the truth, in japan there has always been this culture of suicide since the ERA of samurais, they suicide when they had failed at something so theyre honor wouldnt be damaged and yes its true that almost all students suicide because the schools teaching methods since its really to hard, but well everyones how much you want to live, i will soonly move to tokyo and study there and am ABSOLUTELY SURE that i wont commit suicide because school :$ i hope this ends its a sad thing u.u

In Japan people are taught to conform. Children wear uniforms to school, salarymen wear conservative suits to work, people are not outspoken, and people do what the culture expects of them, without question.

Education is competitive, children must pass an exam to get into junior high school. Once in junior high school you must study like crazy to get into a good high school. Not all Japanese high schools are equal, and good high schools pick and choose from the best junior high school students. If you can't get into a good high school, your odds of getting into a good university are greatly reduced.

In order to maintain conformity, critical thinking is not taught. Facts are simply facts, students are not asked "what went wrong?", or "what would you have done? Could it have been done better?". Debate clubs do not exist, because in Japan people don't debate. The teacher is always right, just as the boss is always right, so students never ask critical questions.

University in Japan is simply a joke. Economics is the most popular university subject in Japanese universities. Economics is far from an interesting subject, and in Japan the course is designed to prepare you for a life of sitting at a desk. University subjects are narrowly taught, questions are not encouraged, and the student's workload is quite light. Students see university as a kind of holiday to enjoy before becoming a part of Japan's economic machinery.

Japanese university students are not encouraged to obtain higher-level degrees. There are quite few Japanese with post-graduate degrees, the reason being that Japanese companies seem to prefer less-educated recruits for their companies whom they can "groom" to fit in. Those who do get post-graduate degrees can't expect to get much more in pay than someone with a bachelors degree, so why bother?

Women have almost no opportunity to advance in corporate Japan. It made news late last year when a woman was promoted to the position of branch manager at the Japan National Bank. Never mind that for decades there have been female bank CEOs in America or Europe. Once again, it is the seniority-based system at work, which kills original thought and competitiveness, and limits the future prospects of men and women alike.

In Japan employer discrimination is normal. When you submit your resume, you are required to provide a photo. Companies prefer to hire young, good-looking people, preferably men. There is no real "Equal Opportunity Act" like that which exists in America, so prospective employees have no recourse if they are discriminated against. If a graduate doesn't get a job shortly after graduation, he may be seen as "damaged goods", which will make getting a good position with a good company very difficult.

And even those who get through the process and find a job have a life of long hours and little reward. The starting salary of a new worker is painfully low, and increases only according to age and seniority. The level of pay makes it difficult to support a family, so many Japanese are having less children. The highest average salary for a male worker in Japan is 4.5 million yen per year. With that money you have to pay rent or a mortgage, buy food, clothes, and a few toys, you must feed your wife and children, and hopefully save enough to put your children through university.

The above system came about after changes to the American-designed Japanese constitution. Immediately after the war, the large Japanese companies were disbanded, and the large landowners were disinherited. For the first time in history, Japanese farmers were able to own the land they worked on.

In business, it became very much like the "sink or swim" system which existed in America. Unfortunately, this system did not work well in Japan, where personal initiative was not integral with the culture. The economy of Japan was floundering, and the amount of American aid required to keep Japan running was growing. Washington decided to allow the Japanese companies to reform under their previous leadership, and this system remains to this day.

At first it was wildly successful. But it couldn't have been otherwise, with the country reduced to rubble, with no work and little food, the only way to go was up. Getting the country and economy rebuilt was an incredible effort, but it was done, and done quickly.

But in the end, perhaps the economy grew too quickly. The bubble burst sometime back, and though expectations have remained high, the ability of the people to live up to these expectations has diminished.

The very things which fueled the rebuilding of Japan are now causing it harm. These large companies which America allowed to reform are who actually rule Japan. The central government is not run by elected politicians, but by unelected bureaucrats who are appointed through a shadowy process which is manipulated by big business.

These "mandarins" profit by the current system of education, government, and conformity, and as they don't answer to the government or the people, things are not likely to change soon.

You are saying the best education systems in the world are Africa and India?