Presentation Information
[SY-18-02]Consideration of the Japanese view of life and death in the wake of the surge in suicides
*Yoshinori Cho (National Institute of Mental Health, National Center of Neurology and Psychiatry(Japan))
Keywords:
suicide,view of life and death,Japanese
Japan has a chronically high suicide rate, and social phenomena with a strong negative impact tend to cause a rapid increase in the suicide rate. Increases in the suicide rate were found among middle-aged males in 1998 following the ‘Yamaichi Shock’ economic crisis and among females and younger people during the ‘Corona Shock’ period in 2020. The increase in suicide was not universal, and there have been no reports so far indicating a surge in suicide rate since 2020 except in Japan. Possible causal factors of the rapid increase were that the psychological threshold for suicidal behavior is low among Japanese, and they are more likely to perform a suicidal act in a mildly depressed state. This low threshold for suicide may be one characteristic of the Japanese view of life and death. It is a deep-rooted problem since the remnants of the seppuku (hara-kiri) culture and religious views are thought to be involved in its formation. At the same time, Japanese culture has many good qualities, so it is too early to argue that the Japanese traditions and social and cultural background should be fundamentally changed. However, what can be said with certainty about the issue of suicide is that education that values life should be practiced throughout the country as early in childhood as possible.