Japan appointed ‘ministry of loneliness’. Want to know why?
February 23, 2021
Japan is moving rapidly in the field of technology on one hand. On the other hand, a new problem has arisen in the country of depression and suicide. Due to stress and loneliness, the number of suicide cases is rapidly growing.
Given the increasing suicide case in the country, the Government of Japan has appointed ‘Minister of Loneliness’.
According to a report, in 2020, a large number of suicide cases have been reported in Japan. At the same time, women are more among those who commit suicide than men
Continue reading at www.newsnownation.com
How Japan came to believe in depression
By Christopher Harding
20 July 2016
I’m sitting on a psychiatrist’s couch in southern Japan, turning the pages of a manga by the artist Torisugari.
The artist himself sits beside me, talking me through it in hushed tones. We pause over an image of the manga’s main character starting to plummet downwards as the Earth fragments and gives way beneath his feet
“The world that had supported me up until now is breaking up and falling away! I can’t even stand up any more!” says the character, Watashi (whose name means “I” in Japanese).
Continue reading at https://www.bbc.com/news/magazine-36824927
As pandemic took hold, suicide rose among Japanese women
Feb 24, 2021
Not long after Japan ramped up its fight against the coronavirus last spring, Nazuna Hashimoto started suffering panic attacks. The gym in Osaka where she worked as a personal trainer suspended operations, and her friends were staying home at the recommendation of the government.
Afraid to be alone, she would call her boyfriend of just a few months and ask him to come over. Even then, she was sometimes unable to stop crying. Her depression, which had been diagnosed earlier in the year, spiraled. “The world I was living in was already small,” she said. “But I felt it become smaller.”
Continue reading at www.japantimes.co.jp
A Cold of the Soul: Depression in Japan
By James Gates
10 October 2018
Every day, roughly 60 people take their own life in Japan, an average of just over 21,000 a year. For every suicide, it is believed that there are another 25 attempts.
These figures, released last year by the Japanese counselling and support service Tell, look alarming – and they are. In a country of 127 million people, nearly one in four people have considered committing suicide. Yet think of this: in certain ways, things are actually improving in Japan when it comes to mental health. Over the last decade or so there have been enormous breakthroughs in recognising and treating symptoms of depression and anxiety among Japanese people. Suicide figures remain startlingly high, but it’s estimated that 20 years ago, 90 people were taking their own life each day.
Continue reading at theculturetrip.com
Photo: © Jamie Edler / Culture Trip
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