Why is the suicide rate so high in Japan?

Look at the list of countries according to their suicide rate. You can see that many high-suicide-rate countries are former communist countries except aome asian countries including Japan. Why is Japan's suicide rate is so exceptional?

Suicides per 100,000 people per year

rank	country	male	female	average	year
1	Lithuania	54.6	11.6	31.6	2011
2	South Korea	41.4	21.0	31.2	2010
3	Guyana	39.0	13.4	26.4	2006
4	Kazakhstan	43.0	9.4	25.6	2008
5	Belarus			25.3	2010
6	Hungary	37.4	8.5	21.7	2009
7	Japan	33.5	14.6	23.8	2011
8	Latvia	33.8	4.0	17.5	2009
9	China			22.23	2011
10	Sri Lanka			21.6	1996
11	Russia			21.4	2011
12	Ukraine	37.8	7.0	21.2	2009
13	Serbia and Montenegro	28.4	11.1	19.5	2006
14	Estonia	20.6	7.3	18.1	2008
15	Croatia	30.2	10.0	19.7	2002

Ref. "Suicide rates per 100,000 by country, year and sex". World Health Organization. 2011. Retrieved 2012-01-26.

Special tendency

Looking for the differences between Japan and other countries, I found a tendency in Japan's suicide data. It is related to age. According to WHO 2008 report, the highest suicide rate age-group is over 75 years old in most countries, however, the highest suicide rate age-group in Lithuania, Iceland and Japan is people in their 50s. In addition, other statistics show that the top reason of committing suicide among Japanese men in their 50s is economic problems.

A statistic of National Police Agency supports these facts. From 2009 to 2010, Japanese suicide rate decreased from 32,845 to 31,690 (-3.5%).
The biggest decreasing age-group was men in their 50s, from 6,491 to 5,969 (-8.2%)
The biggest motive for this was economic problems. All age groups, it decreased from 8,377 to 7,438 (-11.2%)
Ref. Japan National Police Agency report in 2010 (in Japanese)

What happened in Japan in 2009? I believe in a change in the law is the answer.

In June, 2010, the Money Lending Control Act came into effect. This law for money lenders of unsecured loan established lower interest than ever before. For example, it prohibited a harsh attitude to people who had not yet paid back their loans. This is one of the reasons of Japan's high suicide rate is people couldn't pay back their loans.

Is there a law or a system to rescue such people in Japan? Yes, there is. However, some people still decided to kill themselves. I will now talk about another reason why suicide continues today.

José M. Bertolote, from the Department of Mental Health, in WHO, gives a sharp analysis on Japan's suicide tendency: "In Japan, suicide is likely to be part of culture. The immediate cause is due to overwork, joblessness, and bullies, and so forth. Suicide, however, is regarded there as an ethical standard to preserve one's honor and to take responsibility by suicide."
Ref. Kanae Kawamoto "Buddhism and Suicide: Right Attitude towards Death"


One of Japan's famous "suicide sites" Tojimbo Ooike in Fukui Prefecture, Japan (from Wikipwdia Commons, photo by っ)

My experiences

My life experience in Japan supports my findings.

Fifteen years ago, I had to move out of my parents' house and rent a flat near my office because my work was hard, I had to be in work from 9am to 11pm everyday during the week. I visited some real estate agents, and I found two good candidates. An agent said to me, "If you take this flat right now, I'll give you a secondhand laundry machine which was my other guest tennants, he doesn't need it now." I thought it was good deal, so I signed the contract to rent the flat.

After that, I began my new life in the flat. It was certainly a good flat. It was relatively new, not noisy, was in a good neighborhood, and most importantly, it was near my office. However, the agent didn't give me the laundry machine he promised even after one month. I called his office, but he was always out.

On a rainy day one week after I stopped callings agent's office, somebody knocked the door of my flat. I peeked through the peephole, the agent was standing there. He was soaked from the rain and made a polite bow from the waist. I understood why he bowed. It meant, "Sorry, I lied to you. I have been punished with the rain. Please forgive me." His action bore no fruit for me however, he was suffering, but I could only say, "I understand, but please leave." If I had made a contract with the agent concerning the laundry machine giving or I had recorded his promise, I would have pursued him. However I had not, only accepted his inadequate apology.


After 10 years, I experienced a similar episode, except I was the one apologizing. At that time, I was a manager at my company's call center. One day, a telephone operator made a call to a customer who had claimed to have been called from the call center. The operator made a mistake. Many people may think the mistake was not severe, but the customer was angry and requested that the operator bring her manager to the customer's home and apologize. I called the customer, apologized and explained it would not happen again. He accepted my plan, but requested that I go to his house.

I talked with my boss about this issue, my boss decided to accept the customers' request. My boss and I went to the customer's home by train. It took 2 hours.

Ringing a doorbell of his house, he appeared with a smile. He said, "I appreciate your actions and your company." He guided us to a café near his home. We talked about this issue there. Again, I apologized and promised the same mistake would not happen again. Our conversation had the same content as when we talked on the telephone. However, he appreciated our actions. "The company took the trouble to visit him and he appreciated this.

My opinion

You can find such absurd stories in Japan, where people take great pains to resolve problems. In B2C (business activities between company and consumers) you can often see this, some people taking great pains to apologize and value their relationships with consumers. In B2B (business activities between companies), business people work hard to resolve problems. This story is an example of how Japanese people go to extremes to apologize, and is reflected in Japan's high suicide rate.

Some places in Kyoto Paul McCartney visited

With two friends of mine, who are big fans of Paul McCartney, I visited Kyoto which was the capital of Japan from 794 to 1867. It is one of the most popular sightseeing places for both Japanese people and foreigners.

The first place we visited was Kinkakuji Temple, established in the 14th century. It burned down in 1950 and was reconstructed. Paul visited this temple in November 2002. The master priest admitted that Paul, his wife and his band members to the temple after it had closed time. The temple rules dictated that only state guests (King, Queen, President, Prime Minister etc.) were to be treated like that, but Paul was an exception to the rule.

We had Japanese tea and sweets which were made with pure gold like Kinkakuji.

The second place we visited was the Old Imperial Palace. It is a big park - all the buildings are closed. Why did Paul visit such a place? Maybe it is a good place for strolling.

The third place we saw on our tour was an old Japanese style inn Yoshikawa. It is where
Paul stayed. However, we didn't stay there because the rate is expensive, instead we had the cheapest tempra dinner set(100 dollars). It was the best tempra I have ever had.

After dinner, I asked the serving lady "We are big fans of Paul McCartney, so could you show us the room Paul stayed in?" She said, "Of course, come this way" and smiled gently.

This was his room! We saw it from ouyside the inn. The serving lady said, "If nobody was staying in this room, you could see inside, but unfortunately a guest is staying there now."

The inn had a beautiful garden. The book "Each One Believing" about Paul's 2002 tour contained a picture of Paul relaxing  in this garden.

After we took many pictures,  the serving lady showed us the photo book of the celebrity guests who were celebrities, Leonard DiCaprio,Cameron Diaz, Daniel Radcliff etc. We focused on the first page and the second page. A picture of Paul was on the first page. On the second page was Olivia Harrison, George Harrison's wife! The serving lady said, "Paul-san recommended this inn to her." We were surprised and glad that there is a good relationship between Paul and Olivia. (If you are a beatlemania, you may know the complex relationship between Paul and George.)

As I wrote above, this inn Yoshikawa provides high-level hospitality and is a high-class hotel. In addition, this inn has another value - staff are not exclusive but open-minded. All Japanese people know some high-class Japanese inns are exclusive. For example, no first-time guest are admitted (you need to be introduced by a regular), and they look  down on average people. However, Yoshikawa's staff treated us the same as other upper class guests. We were impressed by their services and thought that such an attitude attracted Paul and had him introduce this inn to other celebrities.

What do Japanese people think of Korea and China? And unlike Korean and Chinese people, Taiwanese people tend to be fond of Japan,Why?

What do Japanese people think of Korea and China? What do you think of these countries? It is FAQ for me. I want to make the answer delicately, so I write it down before I talk about it.

# This article was written before the Takeshima / Dokdo island and Senkaku / Diaoyu islands dispute which occurred in summer, 2012. After this incident, feelings among Japanese, Korean and Chinese people become worse again.

Japanese perspective of Korea

Japanese people who say or write negative comments about Korea and Korean people are easy to find. When I was a child, I heard some adults swear about Korean people. Nowadays, I see many negative words about Korea and China on many electronic bulletin boards (except the North Korean government – I have never seen positive words about the country. About Korea and China, I also see many neutral words.) However, the contents of these negative messages are different between those days and these days.

From the beginning of the Japanese modernization (circa 1870) to the 1980s, many Japanese people looked down on Korea as a country behind. Japan ruled Korea as a colony from 1910 to 1945. In order to justify the occupation, the Japanese government made propaganda that said "Korea is behind, so Japan has to control her." Actually, Korea was behind Japan in modernization, so many Japanese people recognized the propaganda as truth.

In addition, many Korean people who lived in Japan (not only coming to Japan voluntarily but also perhaps being brought forcibly for hard mining labor) lived in poverty under discriminations. After the end of the rule by Japan, some Koreans in Japan ran non-conventional business, for example gambling, so many Japanese people thought of Koreans as dirty people.

However, from the 1990s, the situation had changed. In 1987, the Korean government became democratic. The former government was a military administration which had been controlled by the US to guard and bring up Japan as an Asian base of anti-communism. So the Korean military government oppressed their citizens who spoke out against the Japanese occupation. Japan paid compensation to Korea but the Korean government used it for the social infrastructure, not citizens. After their democratization, Korean people began to publicly criticize Japan's ruling. They developed their economy.

Meanwhile, from the 1990s, Japan was and still stuck in a bad economic situation. Some Japanese patriots lost their pride for the nation which used to have a strong economy. The Korean economy was developing more, requested more compensation (informally), and set policemen on Takeshima / Dokdo, which is the territorial disputed island of Japan and Korea. Some of the Japanese people began to think that Koreans are greedy. Japanese nationalists began to recognize Korean people in Japan not as poor dirty people, but as people with special privileges (they began to think that Koreans in Japan have many more privileged rights than other foreigners in Japan) and started to criticize them. The name of their group is "Citizens against Special Privilege of Zainichi (Koreans in Japan)"

In 2004, other big change had occurred. A Korean TV drama suddenly became a big hit in Japan. Before that, Korean culture in Japan was only for a few admirers. After that, Korean drama and pop music became popular genres in Japan. This tide is not temporary. The number of Korean language learners and visitors to Korea is increasing. NHK (Japan's public broadcasting station) published Korean language class textbooks, the number in 2001 was 80,000, while in 2005 it was 320,000. I don't know the reason why, but some people said Korean drama lovers in Japan found a conservative and tidy atmosphere (rather than an extraordinary story and direction) in the dramas.

As above, now in Japan, there are both people who hate Korea (I think it is absurd notion) and people who love Korean culture.

# This article was written before the Takeshima / Dokdo island dispute which occurred in August, 2012. The president of Korea first visited Takeshima / Dokdo. In addition, he said, if the emperor of Japan would like to visit Korea, he has to apologize for the people who fought for the independence of Korea and were killed under Japanese oppression of Korea. After this incident, feelings between Japanese people and Korean people become worse again.


Takeshima / Dokdo from Wikipedia Commons (Rachouette, teacher in Seoul, SOUTH KOREA)

From the perspective of Korean people to Japan

Korean people seem to hold onto their anger against Japan. The reasons why are the oppression by the old Japanese government and no-reflection on Japan's past.

During the Japanese occupation era, the Japanese government forced the Korean people to admire the Emperor of Japan and to learn the Japanese language. The government also forced the people of Korea to change their names to Japanese. These things were a big humiliation for them because they had their own customs of worshipping their ancestors. Some or (many) Japanese people seemed to use violence against Korean people. This story of oppression was passed down from generation to generation of Koreans. (On the other hand, some Japanese people insist that the Japanese rule developed the Korean infrastructure and hygiene improved.).

*Why did the old Japanese government force the worship of the Emperor and the adoption of the Japanese language? One Japanese historian said that the reason why is that only those two things were originally from Japan and not from western society. The logic of the government to rule Korea was that Japan had developed more than Korea. However, this "development" also meant westernization. So if Japan didn't have its original power, it could not have ruled Korea reasonably. There was the contradiction of Japan potentially ruling Korea in a western style as opposed to a traditional Japanese style. These two things – the Emperor and the language were the key supporting reasons for Japan's rule. I agree with this explanation.

After WWII, an explaination of the Japanese occupation of Korea was written in Japanese government approved history textbooks, in a few lines. Koreans got angry about them, so the Independent Hall in South Korea in 1987 was established by Korean citizens' donations. It features Korean history, in particular, during the Japanese occupation. I visited it in 1994. The exhibition includes life-size mannequins depicting, for example the torture of a bloody half-naked Korean lady by Japanese policeman. An Jung-geun, who assassinated Hirofumi Ito, the first prime minister of Japan and the governor-general of Korea, was considered a citizen's hero. A picture book for kids admired An as a respected man. This hall is a popular place of Korean elementary school excursions.

Koreans' anger hasn't calmed down even now. In the past the Korean law prohibited the sale, performance, and broadcasting of Japanese pop culture (songs, movies, manga and so on) – while bootleg copies of these things seem popular in Korea. The law was abolished in 1998 in several stages, but Even in 2012 Japanese TV dramas are still banned on non-satellite Korean TV stations.

My opinion

I think of the country of Korea and the Korean people as follows:

Ancient Korea strongly influenced Japan. Many parts of Japanese culture, including script, religious beliefs and many traditional industrial techniques are based on Chinese ways via Korea. I think of many aspects of Korean culture, such as their writing system, Korean movies, and foods as great. In addition, Japanese politicians and business people can learn a lot from modern Korean politics to strategically prioritize policies regarding intellectual properties and internationalization of business. Therefore, there are some things I respect about Korea and the Korean people.

As for the way Japan ruled Korea, I think that most of it was not done in a proper way, because it lacked concern for the culture and people of Korea. On the other hand, I don't think that the Japanese occupation was completely a mistake. In those days, Japan expanded its own colonialism in order to survive among dominant western powers. I think that we cannot properly argue about the rights and wrongs of colonialism in the past from the perspective of today's values (but we can and have to learn a lot from it.)

I understand that Korean people feel angry about the Japanese occupation. However, perpetuating hate and anger at a neighboring country doesn't have any value. The era of development based on such policy has passed, and now co-operation is more important.

From the perspective of China people to Japan

The feeling between Japan and China has been changing. When I was a young teenager, in the 70s and the 80s, I heard several times, adults around me say "Korean people have severe feelings for us, but Chinese people do not. Even though both countries were under the control of Japan, Koreans are still in anger, Chinese are not. Chinese are more tolerant."

One of the reasons why they said so was "proper name problem" happened. The problem is: English speakers pronounce "paris" for the city Paris, even though French speakers pronounce it "Pari". English speakers pronounce "bock" for the German composer Bach, even though German speakers pronounce it "ba-h". In the same way, Japanese speakers pronounce foreign place names and person's names in Japanese pronunciation.

In the 80s, a Korean Japanese criticized it and requested Japanese mass-media to pronounce Korean place and person names in Korean way. He insisted that pronouncing Korean names in a Japanese way was against Korean human right, so NHK must provide monetary compensation. In 1988, the Japanese Supreme Court rejected his argument but admitted to abusing his human rights. After that, NHK and other mass-media changed to pronounce Korean names properly.

Meanwhile, Chinese Japanese didn't insist on such an issue. The Chinese government also didn't speak out about the Japanese occupation responsibility till the 80s. However, after the 90s, the condition changed. The Chinese leader, Jiang Zemin(1989-2002), established his policy to promote anti-Japan education and propaganda. It was one of the ways to strengthen the orthodoxy of their rule after the Tiananmen Square incident. In my opinion, nowadays the feeling between Japanese people and Chinese people is worse than the one between Japanese and Korean people. The relationship between Japan and China depends not only on the Chinese policies mentioned above but also on Chinese economic growth and Japanese economic decline.

# Again: This article was written before the Takeshima / Dokdo island dispute which occurred in August, 2012. After this incident, feelings between Japanese people and Korean people become worse again.

The strange tendency of Taiwan

All of my friends who have been to Taiwan have said, "Taiwanese people are kind to Japanese people." Their favor towards Japan is well known among Japanese people. As for objective data, here is the statistics of the amount of donations for given the east Japan big earthquake in 2011 from the Red Cross all over the world (the name of country, amount, and population)
Korea, $30m, 49m people
Taiwan, $25m, 23m people
FYI: China, $9m, 1.3b people (As you know, this country's economic base isn't suitable to compare with the other two countries)

#I don't like to compare the amount of donations because all the donations are symbols of people's kindness. The aim of the above list is to merely show you the reality of Taiwanese favor in comparison to Japan's objectivity.

Most Taiwanese are from the Chinese mainland. Both folks of majority are the same. As with Korea and China, Taiwan was under the control of the Japanese government and also experienced same oppression. For instance, at the beginning of the occupation, the Japanese Government executed 50,000 Taiwanese people after the occupation battles.

However, unlike Chinese and Koreans, the Taiwanese tend to be fond of Japan. Why?
I think that it in order to understand this strange tendency, it is important to know Okinawan history.

The history of Okinawa

The Okinawa islands weren't a part of Japan untill 1879. After that, some Okinawan people struggled to adapt to Japanese society and customs, other Okinawan people wanted to be independent from Japanese rule.

Since the end of the Pacific war, the US military began to control Okinawa. The government limited Okinawan people human rights. It was lower priority than the policy of the US military government. The government claimed a lot of land in Okinawa only providing small compensation.

Therefore, Okinawan people made a move to rejoin Japan even though they had a history of struggling under the rule of Japan. For example, in the 60s, Okinawan elementary school pupils to wave a Japanese flag in their schools. Finally, in 1972, the US gave away Okinawa to Japan.

After rejoining, the mind set of Okinawan people had changed. In my opinion, Okinawa is the most anti–central government area in Japan. They recall and experience the unfair treatment by the Japanese government. People don't change, but the situation have changed.

My opinion

We can learn from the history of Okinawa. People's feelings between countries depend not on their national character and their history but on the situation of their countries. Therefore, I think that it is nonsense to appreciate or deny a country depending on the countries citizens'feelings about my country.

Related posts

-How do Japanese think about the Pacific War?
-How do Japanese think about the Pearl Harbor attack?
-Why did Japan attack Pearl Harbor?
-The Great Tokyo Air Raid - More Victims than the Nagasaki Atomic Bomb
-Which was the best era in Japan? An interview with my grandparents who were born in the early 20th century

The Beatles+Circle De Soleil "LOVE"

I went to Las Vegas with my beatlemaniac friend only to see the show "LOVE". It is Circle de Soleil's show featuring the Beatles music. I didn't like the CD of "LOVE", but all my beatlemanic friends who had seen the show praised it very much, so I decided to take a trip to see the show including an over 12-hour flight.


Before the Show

The Mirage, the hotel which held the theater that showed "LOVE"

Many signboards throughout the casinos.

The ticket office

The entrance featured the image of 60s

The symbols of Circle de Soleil and Apple Corps.

Near the ticket office, there is the bar "Revolution", which features many Beatles designs (but no Beatles cocktails)

The wall of "Revolution". Beatles songs.

The song names are seethrough, so we could see past the wall to see the next wall with more Beatles song titles including some rare songs – which they played before their record debut or wrote for other musicians.

The Souvenir shop.

A Real Hofner bass with all Four autographs.

The Concessions in the theater serves cocktails featuring the names of Beatles songs.


Before the show, I went to seat No.O7 in section 208, and sat in that seat even though it wasn't my seat. It was the seat in which Paul McCartney sat at the premiere of the show. Of course, after one-minute of sitting, I went back to my seat.
* you cannot move throughout each section in the theater. So if you want to sit in Paul or other member's seat, you have to purchase a ticket in section 107 to 208. See seat map (PDF).



The show had begun.

Having expected a quality show, nevertheless it exceeded my expectations.

Circle de Soleil performance was really great but the Beatles' was even better. The main character of the show, in fact, is the Beatles, not the Circus. This was the Beatles' show. It was totally contrary to my expectations. I had thought it would be the Circus's show featuring the Beatles' music.

How did I feel about the music? I hadn't like the"LOVE"CD because it was a mash-up of previous tunes like a result of children playing with Beatles music. If I had accepted it as an ordinary mash-up of any other artist's music, it would be OK for me. I could accept it as Giles Martin the producer, but not as the Beatles' music.

However, when I listened to the music at the show, I was impressed by it as if the fabulous four were there, performing their music with playful smiles, as Beatles' music. It was dramatically changed from what I considered "not-like music" to "a real Beatles' performance". I was deeply convinced that the reason why Paul and Ringo had permitted the show. I now think the "LOVE"CD must be released only for the audience of the show.

In addition, the sound quality was so high, like a real live performance. In particular, Ringo's drumming sound was most vivid. The special sound system of the theater, in which many speakers are equipped within each seat, each with their own tuning, worked so effectively.

Circle de Soleil's work was also excellent. I understood that they studied the Beatles in depth. Their performance featured proper understanding and interpretation of the lyrics of the Beatles songs. Of course, the music was played with their famous acrobatic (sometimes calmly and simply) juggling acts. I was surprised by the acts, especially "Walrus", "Lucy", "Help!", "Mr.Kite" and "Revolution".

I realized the reason why the DVD of this show will never be released. Any packaged media can't bring the reality of the show to a TV screen. The various spectacles and performances occurring simultaneously anywhere in my eyesight cannot be packaged into any disc. Even for the simple and calm stage performances, their subtlety cannot be packaged.

It was my first experience to shed tears at a live performance. I am rarely in tears in any situation, including movies and dramas, but the show got to me at the scene of "Get Back". I was really able to feel that the Beatles had come back from their last "rooftop" performance in London 1969 to Las Vegas in the 21st century, the middle of the show. I was thankful for "how lucky we are to experience these great performances and music together at one time" and for "The existence of the Beatles, who could perform even better than the great Circle de Soleil performance".

I was pleased with my choice to travel abroad from Japan to Las Vegas only for the show "LOVE". I am thankful for friends of mine who told me the show was great, for the co-operation of my family and co-workers, and for my friend who traveled there with me.

My Impressions of the US

I went to Las Vegas in January 2012. It was my second visit to the US; the last one was in 1995. So for me, it seemed like it was my first visit. I had some impressions of the US.

First of all, on the airplane, people enjoyed talking with the cabin attendants. The attendants also seemed to enjoy talking with the guests like they were friends. It was a nice and unusual scene for me because in Japan the relationship between guests and clerks is like masters and servants, not like friends. In old days, the phrase "guests are the gods" existed among merchants. Even now, when some people are guests they are arrogant toward shop assistants. I like a society in which people are on the same level everywhere.

Second, people are so big: taller and wider. All US people who visit Japan may see Japan as a country of gnomes. In Japan, it is not common to find overweight ladies even in a big city with a lot of pedestrians, but in the US, it is easy. On the other hand, there are rarely smokers. I hate smoke very much, so I really envy this condition. Japanese society is more tolerant of smokers. For instance, many smokers walk down any street, a lot of offices are equipped with smokers' rooms in the buildings (In the early 1990s, in my office, co-workers who were smokers often enjoyed smoking at their own desks next to non-smokers.). Maybe both the US people and Japanese people are conscious of their health, but their approaches are different.

Third, on the airplane again, I found other difference between American and Japanese society. I sat in my seat, on aisle seat. In front of my seat, sat a three-year-old girl sat in her seat. On the right side of her, sat her mother and her one-year-old sister. At first, the one-year-old baby screamed for over ten minutes, but her mother did nothing. Nobody else did either. In Japan, in the same situation, a mother may be conscious of her baby annoying other people, so she will try to control her baby. If a mother doesn't do anything, other guests will ask her to control her baby. I cannot form a clear conclusion from only one sample, but I was surprised to find such severe individualism in US society.