JAPAN: Economic Hardships Driving Men to Suicide

By Suvendrini Kakuchi Reprint | | Print |

Suvendrini Kakuchi

TOKYO, Aug 28 2000 (IPS) - Nine years after his father committed suicide, Jun, now 23, says he is still filled with remorse and loneliness over the death, feelings that have led to difficulties in coping in school as well as in his relationships with the opposite sex.

Jun’s experience is one of 17 similar accounts compiled in a collection of essays in the book ‘I cannot Talk About Suicide’, published in April by a grassroots organization supporting children whose fathers have died.

The essays, written by university and high-school students and several wives whose husbands killed themselves, talk openly about the sorrow and pain of losing a loved one. They provide a rare look into the suffering of Japanese families who survive a suicide.

“Children whose parents have committed suicide face discrimination and prejudice in Japanese society, making it even more difficult to reveal their inner feelings,” explains Kazuo Yanase of Ashinaga Ikuei- kai, the organization that helped launch the book.

“Against this backdrop the book plays an important role not only for the victims but as a step forward towards raising awareness among ordinary people,” Yanase adds.

Ashinaga was founded originally to help children whose parents died in traffic accidents or ill health. The recent book, however, is in response to the soaring rate of suicides among middle-aged men, an offshoot of the economic recession, which has stripped many of their jobs and dignity.

According to the Ministry of Health and Welfare, sucide and divorce have a hit a record high in the past year.

The number of suicides in 1999 was 33,048, an increase of 35 percent from the previous year. Half of the suicides were attributed to unemployment, while 70 percent of the total number were men, mostly middle-aged.

Divorce rates reached 250,538 cases in 1999, up 7,000 cases from the previous year. Unemployment and debt were major contributing factors for