Why do so many Japanese people kill themselves?

[Ellipse]

Telegraph.co.uk
Andrew M Brown
November 12th, 2010

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The poor Japanese man who committed suicide live on the internet is one among tens of thousands of people in that country who have killed themselves this year. In 2009, 32,845 Japanese people killed themselves. The figure has stayed above the 30,000 threshold for 12 straight years and there’s no sign of a change. It works out at 88 suicides every single day. It’s a lot: Japan has one of the highest rates in the world and it’s much higher than here in Britain, for example.

My own feeling is that this epidemic of self-destruction is related to questions of status, shame and self-esteem and to Japan’s competitive culture. In an uncertain economic climate a lot of Japanese males – and more than 70 per cent of the deaths are in males – are longer confident of being able to stay in a decent job and support their families for their working lives. To make matters worse, they may be ensnared by sarakin-jigoku or “loan shark hell”, which is what happens when a person gets tied up in ever-increasing debts to a moneylender or sarakin.

This is a lethal combination: personal humiliation plus the comparative acceptability of suicide in Japanese culture. Shame is a major driver of suicide. South Korea also has a very high rate of suicide and that country has a comparable social structure where shame motivates citizens.

To put it in general terms, suicide is a catastrophic and total response to a feeling of not measuring up, a sense that you have let yourself and other people down, that you’ve not lived up to expectations. You just want to bury yourself in the ground. Japanese suicides are not, as a rule, “cries for help”. The methods used tend to be the violent self-obliterations usually favoured by men, such as falling beneath the wheels of moving trains.

So, in a culture where fulfilling the expectations of wider society is especially valued, you can see how the shocking act of killing oneself might seem the only “honourable” way out. The would-be suicide cannot see at the time that killing him- or herself is applying a permanent solution to a problem that may only be temporary.

http://blogs.telegraph.co.uk/news/andrewmcfbrown/100063456/why-do-so-many-japanese-people-kill-themselves/

 

[Tigersoap]

I don't know but there is the Aokigahara Suicide Forest which is creepy and puzzling.

The Aokigahara Forest is the most popular site for suicides in Japan. After the novel Kuroi Jukai was published, in which a young lover commits suicide in the forest, people started taking their own lives there at a rate of 50 to 100 deaths a year. The site holds so many bodies that the Yakuza pays homeless people to sneak into the forest and rob the corpses. The authorities sweep for bodies only on an annual basis, as the forest sits at the base of Mt. Fuji and is too dense to patrol more frequently.

You can find the video about this pretty easy if you want to watch the short documentary about a man who goes on a patrol to find people who commited suicide in the forest.

It's a disturbing place and topic to say the least and the video conveys it well.
It is also very sad to know that some people are so desperate that they chose this path.

 

[Keit]

"This is a lethal combination: personal humiliation plus the comparative acceptability of suicide in Japanese culture."

I wonder if there is another element evolved here as well, particularly differences in sensory perception and stimulus intensity between Japanese and European cultures as was demonstrated in various experiments.

Also, when it comes to younger population, especially in the recent years, there may be several additional factors here, like "the copycat effect" (which also works in waves of murders), fascination with fantasy or fictional world - being intensely inspired by or strongly identifying with (like computer games, cosplay, rich culture of myths and fantastic stories with hyperdimentonal themes). It's like it is not only honorable to put an end to one's life, but it is honorable to end it in a specific way or place that is tied to a specific story or legend. To be connected to something, or totally escape into something seemingly more meaningful and fantastic that transcends reality, because reality is harsh and devoid of any such wonder.

Besides, take a male dominated culture where one fourth of all suicides are financially motivated and are not condemned but seen as a responsible way out, and where social rules and expectations are so high and demanding. Couple it with different and intense perception of reality that has to be bottled up to comply with the said demands, and you have a culture that will seek an outlet in all kind of, sometimes intense or unique, ways.

My knowledge of Japanese culture is pretty shallow, so it is possible that all the above is way off, but my impression is that on one hand there is an emphasis on duty, honor and responsibility, on the other hand, on fantasy and myths. Maybe it was different before (watched several Akira Kurosawa movies, and they have an amazing depth of thought and emotion there!), but perhaps these days their cultural norms including emotions and emotional needs are being distorted and manipulated. Notice how their achievements are focused on technology that perpetrates the fantasy world and further disconnect from emotions and reality. It's like there is some kind of generations long social experiment going on. And people react in Pavlovian (transmarginal inhibition) manner.

 

[RyanX]

The Aokigahara Forest is the most popular site for suicides in Japan. After the novel Kuroi Jukai was published, in which a young lover commits suicide in the forest, people started taking their own lives there at a rate of 50 to 100 deaths a year. The site holds so many bodies that the Yakuza pays homeless people to sneak into the forest and rob the corpses. The authorities sweep for bodies only on an annual basis, as the forest sits at the base of Mt. Fuji and is too dense to patrol more frequently.

If that doesn't underscore a suicide problem, I don't know what does.

 

[dannybananny]

I wonder if there is another element evolved here as well, particularly differences in sensory perception and stimulus intensity between Japanese and European cultures as was demonstrated in various experiments.

I think that there are more factors also, like depression, their school system is rigid and they work like machines all day(to me they are the most programmed in a way, you can sense coldness ), so I think it's all right to get little depressive, and in these cold reality they don't get no emotional support, showing some emotions is not really appreciated. But these thing with these Forrest is disturbing because nobody seems to care, like crossing across the street and somebody commits suicide and nobody doesn't notice it, they wait so the bodies can be accumulated to clean the Forrest, to me it's sign of dehumanization because what about parents and relatives that worry and have to wait hole year to know what happened, or maybe some don't worry and see it as normal way out. This taking life is I think legacy of samurai tradition, that is their hole society - work hard or die, samurais did harakiri(suicide) when they lost their honor(good presentation in The Last samurai), and their people do it when not satisfying others, they don't care too much about themselves and don't ask questions so much, they keep silent and suffer. But one thing that is positive is their discipline, and it would be nice if they would cheer up a little bit with that.

 

[Kaigen]

As many other national parks or strange places it is no wonder people get missing because the compass did not work properly or they couldn't find the way back. Maybe they were afraid to starve to death and took their lifes.
Suicide Forest
Suicides in Japan went under the 20000 mark in 2019 and the number in 2020 should come out in march. Couldn't find it though.

 

[BHelmet]

Japanese DNA is perhaps unique. It is a cultural thing. Bushido lurks in the background. Look back to ancient times. To fail is to be dishonored; to lose your sense of personal value; and to bring dishonor to the family. To purge ones' self is a kind of ultimate penance and sacrifice to make things "right". Japanese culture is a bizarre mix of seeming contradictions. Someone loses their job - they can not find another. They become a burden for their social complex. They are ashamed to have to lean on their parents or siblings or friends for too long - despair sets in. Suicide is an honorable escape. It is extreme. It is an escape from one type of suffering. But we in the west have no such concept of honor. In the West - we are survivors. My honor is imaginary and not worth dying for. We value freedom and independence more. But we may be faced with the loss of our freedom soon enough. Will it be worth dying for? Even if by the hands of another rather than our own?

If there are any Japanese people in the forum, please correct me and do a better job than I have.

I have read about these things. Talked to many people. My only direct experience of this is I visited a castle room in Kanazawa where this act was done. Different because it was done by upper level Samurai and Nobles and not every day people. Heads of business still do this at times. (The Takata air bag guy? IDK) Anyway - it was the most intense, bizarre and overwhelmingly emotional room I have ever stood in, anywhere. I almost vomited and swooned.

 

[Kaigen]

My only direct experience of this is I visited a castle room in Kanazawa where this act was done. Different because it was done by upper level Samurai and Nobles and not every day people.

What do you mean by that? You attended a suicide ritual?

 

[3DStudent]

I think BHelmet meant he visited a place where a suicide had taken place. It sounds like the emotions were embedded in the environment.

 

[BHelmet]

I think BHelmet meant he visited a place where a suicide had taken place. It sounds like the emotions were embedded in the environment.

Yes - exactly. And not just one. It was a ceremonial place where this had happened multiple times and it was indeed saturating the space.

 

[Ennio]

Japanese DNA is perhaps unique. It is a cultural thing. Bushido lurks in the background. Look back to ancient times.

Currently reading James Clavell's sprawling novel Shogun about an English ship's pilot who lands in 17th century Japan and has to constantly come to terms with the practice, morality and cultural philosophy of Bushido and seppuku. The book is supposed to be historically accurate and based on actual events and individuals of the time and is very entertaining. It exceeds, I think, in depicting the Western perspective of honor killing or honor suicide through its protagonist's thoughts and reactions. The novel also manages to convey the thinking and values of the Japanese characters who live with such a code, and the matter of fact way they deal with such eventualities. Shocking stuff, but a great and elucidating before-you-go-to-sleep read.

 

[Persej]

Well, looking at the latest statistics, the Japan is not at the top of the list. Many ex-Soviet countries have a higher rate. Even their neighbor, South Korea, has a higher rate. I think that people in general are lost in this modern world.

List of countries by suicide rate - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org