Quote:
Originally Posted by hellosekai
Thank you for your response! And to answer your question I wanted to argue that the increase of suicide in Japan is a result of Westernization, commercialism and the materialism that is really at the root of globalization...I don't think my argument is completely in the wrong...I have a feeling I worded that last question a bit strangely. Sorry.
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I have lived in Japan for 12 years and don't think your idea that suicide rates in Japan are high due to westernisation hold any water at all. As others have mentioned, unlike in the west, there is a tradition here of seeing suicide as an honourable way out, it didn't traditionally have the shameful stigma attached to it that it does in the west.
Commercialism and materialism, perhaps, but you would have to link them somehow to the more direct and obvious reasons here, the more common of which are stress and depression due to overwork, bullying and pressure to succeed at school, and debt problems. The last one is perhaps easiest to relate to commercialism etc, but I think you will that the others have their roots in Japanese culture rather than globalisation.
One thing that could be improved in Japan and that may have an effect on suicide rates is more support and understanding for people who are depressed or mentally ill- currently a lot of these problems are swept under the rug because people don't want to deal with them.