Do you have any questions about Japan or Japanese?

[hirashin]

Hello. Do you have any questions about Japan or Japanese? My name is Hirashin. Some of you may remember my name.
See you.

 

[mdchachi]

Hello. Do you have any questions about Japan or Japanese? My name is Hirashin. Some of you may remember my name.
See you.

Hirashin! How are you? I haven’t heard from you in a while. I was wondering where you went.

 

[Lothor]

Hello. Do you have any questions about Japan or Japanese? My name is Hirashin. Some of you may remember my name.
See you.

No questions at the moment, but it's absolutely great to have you back!

 

[thomas]

Welcome back!

Finally a place for all the questions I cannot ask my wife.

 

[Uncle Frank]

Always great to see a JREF old timer return ! Welcome back !

 

[Tiny&Cata]

Hello I'm new here (like this is literally my first post reading and commenting on this sight) and I see you have positive notoriety. I was wondering if you could possibly help with a scenario.

 

[thomas]

Hello I'm new here (like this is literally my first post reading and commenting on this sight) and I see you have positive notoriety. I was wondering if you could possibly help with a scenario.

Welcome to the forum! Please start your own thread for your question.

 

[hirashin]

Thank you, everyone. I can't write fluently, but can write slowly.
To tell you the truth, I was in the hospital. Now I'm at home.
I'm using English for the first time in a while. Yoroshiku onegaishimasu.

From Hirashin

 

[bentenmusume]

Welcome back, Hirashin!

I'm sorry to hear that you were in the hospital, but I'm glad that you're back at home now, and I hope that your health is recovering.

 

[hirashin]

Thank you, benten-san! ^^

 

[amowicks]

Recently I was reading one of the Classics of Chinese civilization (Admonitions for the Yan Clan) from about 500AD, during it I realized that rice-farming civilizations (which are universally both communal and hierarchical) end up in a situation where the social role is more important than the individual's personality, and where people respect the role regardless of who occupies it. This has wide-spread implications and can explain a lot of what you see in East and SE Asia.

However, my question of the moment is; do you think the increased suicide rate of modern Japanese, Chinese and Koreans is due to a perceived lack of "proper place" in society? That the move to an post-industrial economy removes social roles and makes people feel lost in the world while their social structure makes them crave a specific relational context?

 

[Lothor]

The number of suicides in Japan (though still high) decreased consecutively for about 10 years before the pandemic though has recently shown an uptick. I think it's difficult to draw links between how Japanese people feel about social roles as a whole and suicide, because each year the overwhelming majority of Japanese people don't commit suicide or try to.

 

[Majestic]

Also, I think the question of suicides in Japan is well-studied, and a quick search found the majority of suicides among young people are due to problems at school (bullying). Next biggest reason would be family problems. I kind of think these two reasons are near universal. However, the pressure to succeed in school is probably more elevated in East Asia than it is in the US, and this causes kids to feel trapped.

若者に自殺を考えさせる多くの原因は「いじめ」 | 日本財団ジャーナル

日本に暮らす18〜22歳の若者のうち、4人に1人が自殺を本気で考えたことがあり、10人に1人が自殺未遂を経験したことがある。

www.nippon-foundation.or.jp

 

[Michael2]

Also, the suicide rate is an awful lot lower in Japan than it's perceived to be, probably due to it being much more densely populated than other countries so they are more noticeable and have a much greater mental impact. According to the 2019 figures for example Japan was 49th on the list at 12.2 per 100000 while the USA had about 14.5 per 100000.