Man, what is it with the Japanese obsession with Suicide? Is it come sort of cultural hand-me-down from the honor above all else/harakiri days or what? I do not get it. Maybe it's something to do with the whole everyone is another cog in the machine style of life or the fact that in a constantly crowded area it's easy to feel alone? I do not know as I do not have enough experience in this area; but it is fascinating/confounding.
The Japanese suicide thing is sort of convoluted, and I won't claim to understand it entirely myself, but I think it's a combination of factors. As far as I can tell, it's just an ingrained cultural difference tracing back to the feudal period -- the cultural idea (I will resist use of the word "meme" here) that suicide was a choice that a reasonable person could make under extreme circumstances and not be faulted for, as opposed to the Western idea that suicide was sinful and a sign of evil influence or insanity. This means that now, while the average person in Japan isn't exactly in
favor of suicide, the Western cultural taboos aren't in place. The reason it's sort of reflared as a problem lately is really due to the recession and resulting economic restructuring of Japan, which has tended to leave a lot of poor and/or despondent middle-aged men in its wake. (The site also mentions, pretty appropriately, the issue of changing family dynamics in Japan and the shift away from the multigenerational family arrangement -- which, tragically, has led to an increase in suicide among elderly people, particularly men.)
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Topic: Japanese Suicide Pacts (Read 1844 times)