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Despite its global reputation as a prosperous and technologically advanced country, Japan suffers from a dangerous social phenomenon represented in the large numbers of suicides, especially among the youth.
According to data for 2020, the number of suicides in Japan reached 20,919, an increase of 750 people (3.7%) compared to the previous year's figures. Tokyo often attributes the increase in suicide rates to job insecurity and increased burdens associated with caring for young children, as well as the repercussions of the Corona virus and its accompanying Uncertainty about the future and forced isolation have caused a steady increase in rates of depression and mental disorders.
In the northwest of the majestic Mount Fuji in Aokigahara, Japan, as far as the eye can see, lies a vast expanse of trees that have nurtured over hundreds of years as the famous Aokigahara Forest, or "Sea of Trees."
One morning, the Japanese geologist Azusa Hayano stops his car at the entrance to the forest to begin his usual work of studying volcanic eruptions, and protecting the environment in general, a work that always forces him to enter the dense forest to the base of Mount Fuji, proudly anchored as an old man dictating life lessons to his visitors.
Hayano dismounts, picking up his things, and begins his journey to the old erupting volcano that continues to pour lava into the forest, an ancient volcanic eruption that helped trees and plants to grow densely, extending their sinuous roots over the surrounding uneven ground, and also caused hundreds of canyons and caves of various sizes, to become the forest A suitable land for the disappearance of anything, and anyone.
Mount Fuji
Hayano navigates with difficulty among the dense branches in what the Japanese describe as “the abyss of emptiness”, while in various places there are paintings put up by the Japanese government, some of which are written strange phrases for non-Japanese such as “Your life is a precious gift from your parents, think of them and the rest of your family, You don't have to suffer alone", paintings that at first glance seem to have missed their way into the forest, while under the phrases is written the number of a telephone hotline.
Hayano skips official colored guideposts to prevent visitors from getting lost and then dying, and as he walks he sees a relatively distant yellow tent, walks up to it and checks it out with other items to estimate that it's been here for a few months. He would find, then approach something that looked like someone's clothes to find a decomposing corpse, and next to it on a tree stump was a hanging with the person's name written on it, and the words "I came here because nothing good was going on in my life", a scene worthy of a familiar horror movie. He had gotten used to it. This is not his first visit anyway, and he had previously found more than a hundred bodies while doing his work in the forest, which had turned into a real big cemetery that smelled of death.
Usually, a phenomenon like suicide does not have a typical time, but Japan has broken the unwritten rule, and not long ago has known something like a Japanese horror month, which is the month of September every year.
That month, summer vacation ends and the study begins, something closely related to the giant Japanese suicide machine. In a government study by the Japanese Prime Minister's Office, it covered more than 18,000 suicides between 1972-2013, in an age group of children. and adolescents under the age of 18, it concluded that most children who committed suicide got rid of their lives in late August and during the month of September and mid-April, respectively, meaning that suicide cases increase with the beginning of the school year and enrollment Students in schools, in addition to the fact that the number of suicides was lower in the middle of the holidays, and the study showed that the main cause of suicide among primary and middle school students is family problems of scolding and constant friction with them.
It is not limited to family problems only, but extends to what the world knows as “bullying”, where students’ harassment of each other in schools contributes to the suicide of the weak among them, and returning to school from summer vacation represents a psychological nightmare that many children seem unfit to deal with.
In 2006, after careful investigation of the children who committed suicide, the police noticed that most of them were under constant school pressure, and that it was the main source of their problems.
“If you are from Japan, you definitely know one or two suicides,” says teacher Yumi Nakata. “I know two people, including a girl who studied with me in high school, and she hanged herself because she was being harassed by her friends at school.”
Entrance exams are another pressure on teenagers and young adults.
Because it is considered one of the most difficult exams in the world.
The student faces it since his childhood
The dynamic of traditional group thinking contributes to increasing the isolation of those who suffer because of such harassment. With the failure of the individual to engage in the group, any group, he becomes an outcast from the rest of the individuals, and his suffering increases accordingly, which is what Pediatrician psychiatrist Ken Takaoka confirms, saying that school environments give A priority for the group, "children who don't get along with the group will suffer." After a student commits suicide, the school likely will not recognize a connection between his suicide and the harassment.
Entrance exams pose another pressure on teenagers and young adults, because they are considered one of the most difficult exams in the world, and the student faces them from a young age. In addition to regular schools, primary and middle school students go to the so-called “compulsory school,” which are specialized schools that train students to achieve certain goals such as getting good grades or passing entrance exams in secondary schools or universities, where students enroll in them. Secondary schools to pass the admissions stage, and then they do it again to enter the university. Thus, exposure to such tests at an early age, while continuing for years, generates a state of great pressure and anxiety for fear of failing to pass any of them, and thus suicide here seems an ideal way out.
The psychological pressure on the young man continues during and after graduating from the university as well. It is customary that graduates are employed at the same time each year. Companies start looking for qualified students during the university and after graduation each year at a specific date, and then there is great competition from They accepted these jobs, and the life of the young man is linked to this job. If he fails to obtain it, this means that his life is doomed to failure and hopeless, and therefore he tends to feel depressed.
This system puts students under tremendous pressure, as they have to research and prepare themselves for jobs while they study.
Japan is classified as one of the most competitive countries when it comes to obtaining prestigious jobs, so competition is fierce to the point of eliminating life in the event of failure, and relinquishment and introversion, or what is known as the "hikikomori" phenomenon, is the first sign of suicide.
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Death from overwork.. A Japanese phenomenon known as "Karoshi" pic.twitter.com/asSanKNvci
— Al Jazeera Channel (@AJArabic) March 30, 2017
Hikikomori, or acute social withdrawal, is a term that means the withdrawal of young people from social life in preparation for getting rid of their lives altogether. The Japanese Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare defines hikikomori as people who refuse to leave their homes and isolate themselves from society for more than six months, as the young man begins to isolate in his own room for months and perhaps years without going out, until he decides to get rid of this hell. One million young Japanese are believed to be isolated in their homes, something psychiatrist Tamaki Saito agrees, saying he is amazed at the number of parents who use him for young people who drop out of school, hiding themselves away for months and possibly years at a time. The young doctor notes that they are from middle-class families, and their average age is 15 years, adding that they suffer from deep social fears, and they want to go out into the world, make friends and romantic relationships, but they cannot.
But if the young man gets a job after graduation, he may become vulnerable to the phenomenon of karoshi or death from work exhaustion. The stressful work culture is widespread and rooted in Japanese society in an unusual way, and sometimes mental and physical exhaustion drives individuals to commit suicide. In the Arab countries and most countries of the world, there are self-evident activities such as spending time with the family, and doing the favorite things for each person, but in Japan, the issue of work-life balance is not raised in the first place, and then the individual remains a relentless worker until his mental and psychological powers collapse, and he decides dispose of his life.
It seems that the matter has its historical roots. In 1970, wages in Japan were low, and this led to a large demand for employees to maximize the profits of employers and expand their operations. In the mid-1980s, distortions occurred in the economic system in the country, which fueled stock and real estate prices, which rose This resulted in a boom in economic growth known as the “bubble economy,” and a segment called “white collar workers” grew.
The "Karoshi" phenomenon kills an employee in Japan due to overwork https://t.co/AKQWtPYqb9 pic.twitter.com/rHTOCozhwb
— Argaam International (@ArgaamIM) October 19, 2016
At the height of the bubble economy, 5% of the country's population was working about 60 hours a week, which is many times the working hours in the United States, Britain and Germany at that time, and thus an economic renaissance took place that brought Japan to be the second largest economic power in the world at the time. In 1990 the bubble burst, and led to the restructuring of companies, in what was known at the time as the "lost decade", and employees were deliberately staying at work for fear of being laid off. And when the irregular employment entered, the regulars clung to their jobs more, and they toiled more, sometimes without financial reward or job security, just in order not to dismiss them from the job.
“In Japanese workplaces, there is always overtime, and it almost feels like part of the scheduled working hours, and it’s not mandatory by the employer, but the workers feel as if it is.” Koji Morioka, a professor emeritus at Kansai University who chairs a panel of experts advising the Japanese government on ways to combat karoshi, speaks. The basic working hours are estimated at 40 hours per week, but the workers do not leave overtime either, for fear of receiving a negative performance evaluation, which led to the emergence of the concept of "overtime service", which means doing overtime for free. As a result, experts estimate the number of karuchi, or people who work so tired that leads to death, at 10,000 per year.
Kiyotaka Sirizawa, 34, works for an apartment building maintenance company, and has a 90-hour week, roughly 13 hours a day without holidays.
Supervising building cleaners at three separate locations in Kashiwa, northeast of Tokyo, he struggled to keep the business running.
Serizawa tried to quit for a year, but it was refused, and he would occasionally stop at his parents' house to sleep while he continued his work between sites.
Basic working hours are estimated at 40 hours per week, but workers don't leave overtime either, for fear of getting a negative performance appraisal.
On July 26, 2015, Kiyotaka disappeared without a trace, and they did not find him for three whole weeks, then they found his body in his car in Nagano Prefecture, near the place where he was going with his family on vacations for camping as a child, where he burned pieces of coal in his car , committed suicide by carbon monoxide poisoning.
Karoshi is common among women, too. For example, at the beginning of 2016, 24-year-old Matsuri Takahashi, a graduate of the prestigious Tokyo University, jumped out of the dormitory of the company she was working for. And last October, the labor bureau announced that Takahashi was required to work 100 hours or more of overtime per month during the final months of her life, at the prominent advertising agency Dentsu, often getting less than two hours to sleep a night, and rarely She was taking a day off.
As for those who cannot find work or have a modest job, they are likely to suffer from financial distress, which is one of the main causes of suicide among young people. It is believed that the increase in the number of young people who committed suicide is due to the increase in “precarious work” and the employment of young people with short-term contracts. Although this may be common in many countries of the world, it is very different in Japan, which is known as the "land of employment for life". It is estimated that 40% of young people in Japan are unable to find stable jobs.
In a study prepared by the Institute for Global Policy and Health - an independent research institution - in October 2013, on the relationship between economic stress and suicide in Japan; It was found that suicide due to financial issues was the second leading cause of suicide among young people, from 1990 to 2012. The study found that by the end of the financial year in March 1998, bankruptcies increased among a large proportion of young people, and many suffered Some of them are unemployed, and at the same time many of this category have committed suicide, which confirms the existence of a relationship between the first and the second. This indicates that the increase in the number of young people who committed suicide in the twenties and thirties is closely related to the economic downturn.
What reinforces the above, despite extensive government efforts, is that the Japanese mental health system remains one of the most distorted and backward in the world. There is an acute shortage of psychiatrists, there is no cooperation between them and clinical psychologists, and there is a pervasive culture that makes it shameful for a person to go to a psychiatrist or even just complain about depression or other mental illnesses, and therefore the options are limited for the person who suffers Which makes him resort to suicide. Also, those who suffer from psychological pressures that lead them to commit suicide do not have sufficient knowledge of mental health issues, due to the lack of awareness and poor education in this field.
It can also be explained according to the historical view of the Japanese about suicide. In different religions, whether Islamic or Christian, for example, suicide is considered forbidden, while in the Buddhist religion we find it a virtue and a symbol of responsibility, or as it is called "suicide of honorable people". Also, the ancient warrior or samurai used to practice suicide rituals or “hara kiri”, in order to avoid being arrested and tortured, so as not to appear weak or cowardly, feeling his stomach quietly and then planting a sharp sword or dagger in it, while he was wearing a white robe, before the Another warrior lands with a sword on his neck. Likewise, kamikazes did it in World War II after the defeat, and thus suicide is not generally considered in Japan as a disgraceful act.
The Japanese economy is affected by high suicide rates, through lost income and treatment costs for those rescued. According to government data issued in 2010, the total number of suicides of 26.5 thousand people in 2009, if they worked from the age of 15 to 69 years, they would get about 22 billion dollars. The study indicated that Japan lost about $32 billion in 2009 due to suicide. For this, the government is making intensive efforts to reduce these rates, but in the end it remains modest moves relative to these high numbers. Therefore, it is unlikely that we will see strong results in the short or medium term, as government personnel are part of the Japanese cultural fabric, which makes the issue difficult to solve or quickly address.