Blog #6

Blog #6

The part of the discussion that struck me most was the fact that Japan has the highest suicide rate in the world.  I’ve been wondering why.  At first, I considered over-working: the influence of gambari had forced people to feel insecure and inferior, no matter how hard they worked.  In Western culture, though, many people struggle from feelings of inferiority, and our culture also values hard work.  Yet, even with a much larger population, we have a lower suicide rate in the United States.  I wondered about Japan’s rich heritage and long-standing traditionalist culture.  Is it that people feel trapped?  Do people feel as if they cannot escape the traditions they don’t admire?  Or is it the rigors of social order?  Do some people feel ostracized in a culture where community is everything?

In the end, I realized that suicide is a deeply personal decision.  Every person in the world would have a different reason for wanting to end their life; everybody struggles with different problems.  Maybe we have a lower suicide rate in the United States because help is more readily available to those who struggle to cope with whatever problems they might be facing.  In the past, admitting to a weakness would have been unforgivable, and an adult – even a young adult – who stood up and said “I’m not ok, and I don’t know what to do” would have been accused of being weak and told simply to “toughen up”.  In recent times, however, our culture and society seems to have accepted each other’s weaknesses.  As a nation, we’re starting to appreciate what our neighbors and co-workers and even family members might be fighting against.  Now, it is not only acceptable but encouraged to seek one of a myriad forms of therapy. 

Maybe, due to the limits created by ideals such as aimai, chinmoku, and kenkyo – social constructs that all idealized silence and restraint in order to keep a community peaceful – those who need help in Japan feel as if they cannot speak out; maybe they feel trapped in a world where asking for help is unacceptable.