SUICIDE PREVALENCE IN JAPAN 

Sign board at the entrance of Aokigahara Forest (Suicide Forest) that beg suicidal visitors to think about their loved ones and to seek help if they’re considering taking their life in the forest

For years, the Japanese had failed to identify depression and problems of the mind as legitimate problems and ignored them persistently. It is only in recent times, perhaps owing to a wider worldview provided by the 21st-century global world, that these problems which are as common in Japan as any other part of the world have come to light.

Japan ranks among the top countries in terms of a number of deaths by suicide. In 2019, the death of approximately 20.1 thousand people was recorded by suicide, and although the figure has significantly reduced from the previous years, it’s still quite high. In fact, suicides have been such an accepted fact in Japanese history that a forest called the Aokigahara Forest is deemed as a ‘suicide forest’ where people go to kill themselves, mostly by hanging themselves to the trees of the forest.

The large scale of suicides that Japan witnesses every year, can perhaps be attributed to some distinct factors, although there is bound to be exceptions, given the very personal nature of such tragedies.

❖ Cultural and Historical practices: For the longest time, Japanese culture has identified suicide as not a sin (unlike Christianity) but rather as a way of taking responsibility for one’s actions. Far from being deemed as tragic or feeling the need to reduce its rates, the Japanese often interpreted suicide as honourable. This notion was perhaps the by-product of the ‘seppuku’ practices followed in the Samurai tradition, according to which the Samurai’s ritual suicides were honourable. In recent times, these ideas that romanticize suicide has been discarded to an extent, and a greater emphasis on mental health has acquired more importance. 

❖ Financial Reasons: Statistics suggest that young men between the age of 22-40 are most commonly the victims of suicide and this is attributed to the financial problems brought about by unemployment and employment on the basis of short term contracts.

❖ Isolating technology: Japan’s culture of not complaining further increases the troubles for individuals. Not being able to express one’s feelings adequately, and further, the introduction of newer technologies, isolate people to an extent that they might become helpless.

❖ Karoshi which means ‘death from overwork’ is one of the most prominent causes of suicide in Japan. The term was invented in the 1970s as a result of a number of deaths that had been brought about by work-related stresses and pressures. However, it still remains quite persistent in contemporary times. Numerous studies on work culture have brought into light the collectivist and hierarchical nature of Japanese society, unlike the western societies which are individualistic and non-hierarchical. What this means for Japanese society is that in order to move up the hierarchy in their work status Japanese people often tend to overwork themselves so as to please their bosses and maintain group harmony.

THE ROLE OF YAKUZA IN JAPAN

Men donning Yakuza style tattoos | Credit: Jorge/Wikimedia Commons

The avenue of organized crime in Japan has been dominated by the Yakuza, known as bōryokudan or gokudō, for years. These Yakuza groups are primarily mafia-like criminal organizations whose existence is deeply entrenched in Japanese history. These groups were at their glory in the 1960s with gang membership of about 184, 000 but in the 21st century, it has been reduced to about 80,000 members. The Yakuza comprises of several gangs which are affiliated to about 20 conglomerate gangs, of which the Yamaguchi-Gumi is the largest.

Living up to its name of a criminal organisation, the Yakuza engage in a number of shady activities including extortion, blackmail, smuggling, prostitution, drug trafficking, gambling, loan sharking, day- labour contracting, and other rackets. But the control of the Yakuza over Japan stretches across different fields, even unlikely ones such as entertainment industries, restaurants and bars and taxi companies, and other major factories and businesses. Unsurprisingly, the Yakuza are also involved in international crimes.

One of the major activities that the Yakuza are known to engage in is Drug trafficking especially of methamphetamine, although such activities are only condoned by some gangs and others such as the Yamaguchi-Gumi strictly disapprove of such actions. Perhaps even further down the moral scale than drug trafficking, the Yakuza are infamous for engaging in human trafficking in extensive scales. Often young girls from small villages are persuaded to come to big cities by the Yakuza, who promise them good jobs and respectable positions in the society, but in reality, forcing them to become sex workers after they arrive. They also follow a practice of extortion specific to Japan, known as ‘sōkaiya’ which basically means a protection racket.

However, the Yakuza’s relationship with Japanese society is more complex than it might seem to appear in the first glance. While some natives are completely repulsed by the idea of the Yakuzas, others perceive it as a form of a necessary evil. The possible reason for this may be the Yakuza’a existence in Japanese society for hundreds of years and also some philanthropic deeds that the Yakuza has undertaken for the people of their nation. For instance, during the Kobe Earthquake of 1955 and the Tsunami in 2011, the gangs took up the task of delivering and distributing essential supplies to victims. While the Yakuza has certainly evolved into a relatively more crime-free group compared to it’s earlier manifestations, the nature of the group and its relationship with Japanese society still remains complicated, especially the one between the police and the Yakuza, both of which, much suspect work hand in hand.

THE NIGHTLIFE IN JAPAN – PROSTITUTION RINGS

Prostitution (baishun, i.e, selling spring) declared illegal by the Japanese government is present in Japan, on an extensive scale. Their existence which is in direct contradiction to the law, is perhaps possible by their affiliation and control by the Yakuza and also perhaps due to their covert means of operating. The Japanese government in the second half of the 20th century had banned prostitution, but this ban catered to only a narrow definition, i.e, intercourse in exchange of payment, therefore living ample space for functioning of oral copulation, erotic massages, etc, which are therefore entirely legal. This, these activities along and even intercourse, is a largely occurring event in the nightlife of Japan. Tokyo, for example, is believed to have one of the largest red-light districts in the world. Pink salons that specialize in oral pleasure are common and so are some shady ‘spa’ businesses which carry out such activities, under an innocent pretext.

Photograph of girls working in pleasure house “Sakuraya” in port town of Yokohama

Most of the prostitutes are trafficked slaves, and what’s even more sickening is the child prostitution prevalent in Japan. The legal age of consent for a girl in Japan is 13, so most underage sex is protected by law, and often conveniently blame the girls, as inviting it upon themselves. The child prostitution racket in Japan, often called the JK Trade is perhaps embedded in the Japanese culture of sexualizing young girls, which is evident in the craze over maid cafes, and the way young girl’s bodies are represented in anime and manga, all of which are a very prominent part of Japanese Culture.

CONCLUSION

Therefore, it may well be understood that Japanese culture, is not as bright and cheery as it may seem at first glance. It is an undeniable fact that therefore, that there is another side to the coin, i.e, while Japanese culture is rightful to boast about its many vibrant festivals and whatnot, the dark side of Japan primarily represented by the existence of Yakuza and its role in Japanese society, Suicide prevalence in Japan and prostitution rings along with other issues such as poor economy, sub-standard educational and bureaucratic system and high rising prices, are ever-present.

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A brief introduction to the Self 

The Self is the ideas and beliefs we hold about ourselves; what we are good at, who we are, what we like and dislike, who we want to be etc. Our self-concept is synonymous to the self. The development of self begins at infancy when the child recognizes himself or herself as a separate individual. Children can sometimes quite clearly state their likes and dislikes (Butterworth,1992). The development of self also continues into adulthood wherein one’s beliefs, preferences etc change. Hence identity formation is a lifelong task. However, according to Erik Erikson(1963), identity formation is of special relevance during adolescence. In his theory of ego development, Erikson stated that the coming together of identity marks the transition from childhood to adulthood. The goal, according to him, of this’ consolidation process was to view the self as “something that has sameness and continuity, and to act accordingly”. It is only after this consolidation can one begin to make career plans, have intimate relationships etc. This is because, without the knowledge that who one is today will be similar to who one is two years later, one cannot begin to make plans about one’s future. What is essential for such important decisions is a clear and firm idea os oneself. A clear self-concept exists when one is free of self-doubt, confusions about oneself and when one is free from external pressures and does not feel buffeted by the ideas that others have of him/her. It is only with a clear self-concept that one can direct oneself (Campbell, 1990)

What is Self-Esteem and What is it based on?

Self-esteem is the evaluation we make of ourselves. According to William James (1890), self-esteem can be defined as success divided by pretensions. This definition is relevant because of its implications. Firstly it implies that what is important is not how much one has achieved, but how a person has succeeded in relation to their ambitions (here, pretensions). Hence to an untrained observer a person may have very high self-esteem because of how much the person has achieved, whereas, in reality, the same person may view him/herself quite negatively because their success falls short of their ambitions, or is simply not relevant to them. Moreover, this definition also allows us to make an assumption about how to obtain high self-esteem; i.e by avoiding failure and achieving greater success or simply by having less ambitious goals.  Here we must ask an important question: How do we measure our worth? Is it simply by objectively looking at our success and comparing it to our ambitions? A simple answer would be no. According to Charles Cooey (1902), our assessment of our worth is based on what we believe others make of us. Our assumptions of others’ assessment of us depend on how we subjectively evaluate their qualities. That is, we assume that a more successful person will judge us more harshly than a person who hasn’t had much success. Hence what shapes our self-esteem is not how our achievements are directly assessed but the subjective assumption of how these achievements will be assessed. Self-esteem is made up of self liking ( personal fondness) and self-competence ( our evaluation of ourselves as capable). It can also be of two types; explicit and implicit. Explicit self-esteem can be understood by the concrete negative or positive evaluations we make of ourselves and Implicit self-esteem is the more implicit evaluations we make of ourselves (Greenwald and Banaji, 1995). A clear distinction between these two types of self-esteem can be found by looking at Karasawa and Kitayama (1997) study, where they found that though Japanese individuals are less likely to answer self-esteem scales in an explicit self-enhancing manner, they show a preference for letters in their names and numbers that correspond to their birthdate. 

The basis of one’s self-esteem is different for a woman as compared to a man. Josephs et al (1992) found that self-esteem is related to successfully achieving culturally mandated gender-appropriate norms. Theorists have long found consensus in the idea that men and women’s self-concept are likely to be different in very important aspects. (Stewart and Lykes, 1985). Hence though men and women do not differ in their overall self-esteem, the basis for their self-esteem may be different. Where women and men differ in how they view their self in relation to others- women having a very collectivist and connected self-schema and men having a very independent and autonomous self-schema. This difference has been explained by many psychologists. For example, Chodorow(1978) believed that such a difference is the result of the relationship between the mother and the child. That is because the mother and the son have differences, separation becomes central whereas since the mother and daughter are more alike, continuity with one another becomes central. Miller (1986) proposed that because women are more powerless in society they have to be more responsive to others. This leads to interpersonal relationships and interdependence becoming very central to a women’s self-concept. Thus because of such differences in self- concept, the basis for self-esteem also differs. This pivotal study by Josephs et al found that for men self-esteem is based on seeing oneself as unique ( which emphasizes on an individuation process ) and for women self-esteem is bases on seeing oneself as sensitive to or attuned to others.

Causes, Costs and Benefits of Self-Esteem

The main influence on one’s self-esteem is of one’s parents. This influence is partly genetic and partly based on the love and affection that one receives from one’s primary socializers. According to Rober Taibbi, it is during our childhood that we develop our Bottom line- the way you feel about something based on early experiences. For example, how you felt when your toy was taken away from you forcefully for the first time maybe how you feel every time when you are abandoned. This Bottom line helps you develop your own ‘rules of living’- how you want to live your life. For example, if the way you feel about yourself is that you are useless, you will live in a way that will allow people to take advantage of you. These are some common symptoms of low self-esteem :

• Unable to trust your own opinion
• Always overthinking
• Afraid to take challenges, being worried you wouldn’t overcome them
• Hard on yourself but lenient with others
• Frequent anxiety and emotional turmoil

According to Suzaane Lachamann (2013), sexual abuse, the media, bullying may all lead to low self-esteem. Disapproving authority figures who told you you were never good enough, Uninvolved parents who made you feel like you were unacknowledged and forgotten, authority figures in conflict who make you feel like you have contributed to their unhappiness can all lead to a negative evaluation of self and consequently low self-esteem. If your primary caregivers were otherwise occupied while you were being bullied and downplayed your experience, or they let you down when you needed their advocacy, you might have struggled with feeling undeserving of notice, unworthy of attention, and angry at being shortchanged. This too might have lead to low self-esteem. Repeated public failures, such as failing in your exams constantly may also lead to a lowered self-esteem. 

According to Nicholas Emler (2001), the following are the effects of self-esteem, both low and high:

Young people with very low self-esteem are more likely to

• show symptoms of depression; be more often unhappy
• become pregnant as teenagers (girls)
• have suicidal thoughts and make suicide attempts
• experience in their twenties longer periods of unemployment and earn less (males)
• suffer from eating disorders (if they are female)
• be victimised
• fail to respond to social influence
• have more difficulty forming and sustaining successful close relationships. 

Young people with low self-esteem are not more likely to

• commit crimes, including violent crimes
• use or abuse illegal drugs
• drink alcohol to excess or smoke
• as parents, physically or sexually abuse their own children
• fail academically

Hence though people with low self-esteem treat themselves badly they don’t treat others badly. However, high self-esteem is not the social antidote that many believe it to be. Rather a young person with high self-esteem is more likely to hold prejudiced attitudes towards an ethnic group, reject social influence and engage in physically risky pursuit.

Conclusion (How to develop Self-esteem)

It is important to understand that by inducing positive life experiences, a person’s self-esteem may not increase. This is because positive life-events enhance the health of those with high self-esteem but adversely affect the health of those with low self-esteem. One’s self-esteem can be developed by proper interventions that are specifically designed to increase self-esteem. These interventions have not been successfully used as preventative measures but have shown success when used by people with low self-esteem. Interventions only work when they target self-esteem and not the assumed symptoms of lows self-esteem. Rational Emotive Therapy ( Ellis, 1973) also seems to work as a method that improves self-esteem. RET is a cognitive behavioural therapy technique which concentrates on altering irrational beliefs. Other therapies that focus not only on changing one’s thought patterns but also one’s behaviour (CBT) have also been found to improve one’s self-esteem. Being kind to oneself, being assertive, and trying to build positive relationships ( even though low self-esteem can be both an obstacle on the path of creating  of intimate interpersonal relationships and a result of the lack of such relationships) can also help improve one’s self esteem.

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