Japanese Suicide: The Growing Epidemic

                Japanese Suicide: The Growing Epidemic

Introduction
    According to an article printed a number of years ago in The Foreigner: Japan, approximately 30,000 citizens of Japan or more die each year by suicide (Japan Health Report 2006). Since Japan has the third largest economy in the world and has positive aspects such as an extremely high education rate among its citizens, some people would wonder why this is the case. What many westerners do not know about Japanese culture is that many young and middle-aged Japanese citizens have extremely high expectations for themselves in all aspects of life, especially educational testing and success in business. Many of the people with these expectations view themselves as failures when they make mistakes. As a culture, people often resort to suicide as a means to save face. Unfortunately, the Japanese government does not encourage people to seek therapy when depressed or suicidal, nor does it encourage the use of anti-depressant medication as a positive way to cope with failure. Because many Japanese people commit suicide when failing to meet the standards they set for themselves, those who are depressed and considering suicide should be encouraged by the government to seek therapeutic treatment or anti-depressant medication. In order to understand why many Japanese people resort to suicide, however, westerners must first understand the history of Japanese suicide and of Japan itself, as well as current Japanese cultural values.

A Brief History of Japan and Suicide
    Japanese people have always seen suicide as a means to preserve one’s honor, as seen through Japanese history. One reason this is true is because the major Japanese religions, Shintoism and Buddhism, provide no prohibition of suicide (Lamar). For instance,  beginning in the 1400s Samurai warriors would commit seppuku, meaning to kill oneself, after fighting an enemy and losing (“Seppuku”). A Samurai would usually commit seppuku by a method known as hara-kiri, in which he would cut his stomach open with a sword (“Seppuku“). Seppuku was abolished by the Meiji government in 1868, though people practiced it after that time. Even after Samurai became less common, some people still practiced ritual suicide when ashamed or feeling they could make no other contribution to society.During WWII, when American forces were conquering various islands in the South Pacific, Japanese pilots would crash planes into American ships in order to destroy them (“Information on the Kamikaze Pilots”) . These pilots, who believed in defending the honor of their country and their emperor (whom they considered a god), called themselves Kamikaze pilots (“Information on the Kamikaze Pilots”). They did so because they believed a “divine wind,” also known as “kamikaze,” would protect them from harm (“Information on the Kamikaze Pilots”). After World War II, in which Japan was allied with Germany, Japan’s economy was doing very poorly. Leaders of Japanese companies began imitating America’s business policies and economic structure, often with the advice and guidance of  prominent American business figures (“Japan: History, Geography, Government, and Culture”). Many Japanese companies created a goal of selling their products to all areas of the world and, thus, to more people (“Japan: History, Geography, Government, and Culture”).  Additionally, beginning in the late 1940s, America opened their export market to Japan, which enabled the United States to have an ally near Russia, who was their enemy during the Cold War (“Japan: History, Geography, Government and Culture”). In this way, Japan had one of the largest economies in the world by the 1970s (“Japanese Economy”).  Starting during this time period, the success of its citizens became crucial to the continued advancement of the Japanese economy, and therefore many citizens put tremendous pressure on themselves to succeed.

Japanese Cultural Values
    Cultural values also contribute to Japan’s suicide problem. One value not encouraged by the culture is individuality, as seen in the Japanese saying, “The nail that stands out will be pounded down” (Gadon). Discipline and structure are two of  the Japanese culture’s most important values, and nowhere are these values seen in practice more than in Japanese schools. Students put tremendous pressure on themselves to be accepted into those middle schools, high schools and colleges at which they feel they can receive the best education available, and many then acquire high-paying jobs with degrees earned at those schools (Slater 90).  Therefore, Japanese students with these aspirations must spend much  of their time studying, and little relaxing (Slater 90). Family also plays an important role in the lives of Japanese youth. Although Japanese children see their mothers more than their fathers, children view both with respect. Children are expected to bring honor to their families by good achievements. When students are not accepted into the schools they aspire to be in, a large number of them view themselves as failures and fear that they have brought shame on their families. They then commit suicide.  Many middle-aged men who are fathers commit suicide if they fail to support their families.  These men are employed in companies and put pressure on themselves to rise in their company’s rank (Slater 91). They kill themselves if fired from their job or if their company goes bankrupt, because they also feel as though they’ve shamed themselves and their families (“Japan on Suicide Alert”).

The Problem   
    Although people of both genders and all ages commit suicide in Japan, the group which has the largest suicide rate is middle-aged men. On average, suicides of males between 40-60 account for 73 percent of all Japanese suicides each year (Curtin). Approximately 318 elementary through high school aged children killed themselves in 2003, causing at least a 29 percent increase in both categories (Curtin). The problem Japan faces is a growing one, with over 30,000 people dying per year by suicide (Goerzen). Therefore, almost 100 people die a day of suicide, usually one every 15 minutes (Curtin). Some people who commit suicide live in the world’s largest city, Tokyo, but many also live in rural areas. Many peopleblame the government for not passing legislature that would prevent suicide or encouraging Japanese citizens with depression to seek therapy or medication.
   

Proposed Solutions  
     Although the Japanese government has taken a few preventive measures, no legislature prohibiting people for suicide or for assisting another person with committing suicide has been passed to date by the main body of the Japanese government, as has been in the United States (“Suzanne Gonzales Suicide Prevention Act of 2007”). A few other small preventive measures taken by the government include the following: In 1994, Japan’s Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare devised a list of relaxation guidelines for Japanese citizens, which encouraged daily relaxation among Japanese citizens (“Japan Health Report 2006”).  In 2000, Japan’s Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare announced a health promotion program, which is to be completed in the year 2010 (“Japan Health Report 2006”). The government has taken some measures against suicide by interviewing family members and friends of suicide victims to analyze signs of suicidal behavior,  and by encouraging companies to hire counselors for their employees (“Japan Combats Suicide Rate”). However, important media figures, whether government officials or celebrities, rarely address the issue. For example, newspapers report suicide deaths but give no opinion on those deaths or means of their prevention. Most Japanese citizens who are concerned with Japan’s this problem agree that prominent government officials or celebrities should address the issue publicly in order to give suicide a negative connotation.   Japanese doctors are the main proponents of suicide prevention. Some (though certainly not all) urge the government to require, not encourage, companies to provide employees with annual mental health check-ups (Nakao). During these check-ups general employees would take a test comprised of questions about mental health (Nakao). Many doctors recommend that if an employee taking the test shows symptoms of depression, that person should receive counseling or take anti-depressant medication until recovered (Nakao). Some of these doctors also suggest that, if companies won’t fund check-ups for their employees, citizens themselves should pay a fee for the checkups. Many average Japanese citizens, however, continue to view therapy as a crutch that would make them or their loved ones weak and dependent. Frequently, then, when loved ones commit suicide, these people lament but do not take steps which would prevent others they know from killing themselves. A law has recently been passed by the Japanese parliament ordering prominent government officials to pass suicide-prevention legislation by ordering the mental-health checks but the law has so far proven ineffective (“Japan to Tackle High Suicide Rate”).

Conclusion
    In order to prevent their suicide rate from increasing, the Japanese government should strongly discourage suicide and require depressed people to seek help through therapy or medication as alternatives to committing suicide. Recent Japanese history and Japan’s strong economy are two reasons why Japanese people put pressure on themselves to do well and, after making mistakes, resort to suicide as a means of dealing with the resulting sadness. Most Japanese suicides are committed by men between the ages of 40-60 (who are fired from their jobs or whose companies fail) and children between the ages of 12-18 (who see rejection from a certain school as ultimate failure). The Japanese government needs to pass laws that require all citizens to have mental-health checkups and then receive help if diagnosed with depression. As Keiko Yamauchi, lawmaker for the Social Democratic Party, said, “We must urgently tackle the suicide issue, which is destroying the fabric of our society. We need to act immediately and take concrete suicide-prevention measures. At the same time, we must also try to create a more human and caring environment for our children and their parents” (Curtin). The government must act now by discouraging such fierce educational and economic competition and by taking suicide prevention measures, before  the death toll rises to 35,000 people per year, 40,000 people per year, or even higher.