It is obvious how out of step Japanese society is when it comes to mental health issues. Suicide is nothing new in Japan- just ask the samurais and kamikaze pilots. The idea that an honourable death is better than admitting defeat and being perceived as weak has stuck by Japanese culture until today. However, the majority of the 20th century did not have a market for mood disorder drugs until the 90’s. Select pharmaceutical firms initiated a campaign that referred mental illness as ‘the cold of the soul,’ something that could be cured with medication- an ignorant and misinformed idea. A decade later, a suicide prevention law was enacted in 2006 to reduce national suicide rates, which acknowledged that suicide was a social issue as opposed to a private one. News stories covering incidents are not uncommon to hear due to their frequent nature. The train is often late because of “human accidents”. Ignorance about the topic is still persistent which was made evident late 2017 when a couple in Osaka was found having imprisoned their mentally ill 33-year-old daughter for 15 years until her death, all because they did not know how to deal with it. Since May is Mental Health Awareness Month, I wanted to know if Japan was doing anything, after all these years of neglecting this issue, to ameliorate how mental health is treated by society. Here is what I found:
1. Workplace reform
24-year-old Matsuri Takahashi committed suicide in 2016 due to a mental breakdown caused by pressure to work more than legally allowed. It was reported that Takahashi had been working over 100 hours of over time a month, as opposed to the 45 hours the Japanese labour unions agreed on. The outrageous part is that there is in fact no limit to how much over time an employee works. This news caused a national outcry and received global media attention. Hundreds of deaths are linked to Karoshi (death from overwork) each year, not all of which are suicides, and yet it never seems to get better.
Exploitation is an all too common issue in Japanese workplace culture, something that I have seen firsthand at my part time office job. My manager and his friends often jokingly brag about how much over time they did in the past month, and call each other Shachiku (社畜), which translates to ‘corporate cattle’. That is exactly how they are treated- livestock for a conglomerate that only cares that you bring them money.
Prime Minister Shinzo Abe was to present a new set of work style reforms to the Diet early this year, but ended up putting that on pause. The reform promised a new era of ‘flexible’ work styles that would help revive the economy. However, the proposal would have expanded on ‘discretionary labour,’ which is a business practice in which workers are paid their set salary regardless of their over time hours. Abe soon admitted that the data used to draft the reform was flawed and that it would not be pursued. While legal working conditions will remain the same for the time being, many corporations are aiming to reduce pressure on their workers by allotting days in which employees must not do over time and go home by a certain time. It’s still hard to tell whether things are getting better or if it is just a temporary thing before they revert back to their exploitative practices.
2. The power of manga
Manga is embedded into modern Japanese culture across all age groups. Japanese artist Torisugari, who lives with depression, decided to make a manga depicting mental illness in a more understandable way for readers. Torisugari was overworked at one point in his life, which led him to suicidal thoughts. He was oblivious to the fact that this was a sign of a mental illness, and his confusion deepened when family and acquaintances called him an attention seeker, and told him that exercise would make him feel better. After a secret suicide attempt he hid from family and friends, he visited a doctor who diagnosed him with depression- a word he had never heard before. The manga chronicles his fall into, and his climb out of depression.
Excerpt from Torisugari’s manga(Source)
Torisugari decided to create a manga to depict his experience with depression. One image shows the protagonist falling through a cracking ground, saying, “The world that had supported me all this time is breaking and falling away! I can’t stand anymore!”(pictured above). Torisugari remembers feeling this way when he was falling into a depression. He believes his manga will bring awareness about the topic, but also that the writing process was form of art therapy that helped him. The book is now available in several mental clinics across Japan.
More and more mangas (Welcome to the NHK) and animes (Neon Genesis Evangelion) concerning mental health are popularized, allowing for a greater discussion about this neglected topic. They have the potential to shape the minds of the youth since they are items of pop culture that are engrained into society.
3. Urban planning
Living in a metropolis can be quite dull, so making it as pleasant to live in as possible can make all the difference. Most people make the move to the city of Tokyo for jobs, a city which currently houses 9 million people in the 23 districts and 13 million in the whole prefecture. Between working in an office all day (and some nights) and being surrounded by grey buildings, it can be difficult to get out a negative space in your mind. To combat this, the Tokyo urban planning committee has six goals, of which two can contribute to the betterment of a Tokyoite’s mental health.
First, increasing contact with greenery and nature in a concrete jungle can help bring comfort and calamity to a fast-paced lifestyle. A study conducted by scientists in London concluded that contact with nature can improve mental well-being for city dwellers who were more prone to developing mental illnesses. Tokyo has several parks open to the public (some free, some for a fee). Go to Yoyogi Park on a weekend and visit the dog run to see some cute fluffy friends, or to the Shinjuku Gyoen for 200 yen to sit by the ponds and relax. Many architects now wish to incorporate more lush greenery in their building designs to brighten the dullness of the city.
(Source)
Secondly, the city is aiming to increase active areas within the city to promote exercise. Commuting is done mostly on public transportation while cars are seldom used. This means adults spend the majority of their days in close proximity with others, and hardly have any time for themselves. To allow for more time spent outdoors and less crammed with strangers, the city published a website with suggested walking routes as an alternative for public transport when possible. Walking can be great as to release stress and change the mood, and it helps with over all health as well. However, exercise for most people only works as a temporary fix and cannot offer any long term aid.
Whether these plans can help depends on the individual. While some can feel better by exercising, others don’t; while some can be positively influenced by nature, others aren’t. Nonetheless, the efforts made by the city to brighten up the days of its citizens is commendable.
Over all, the government does seem to be making efforts to improve their citizens’ mental health, but it’s hard to say if it will truly make a lasting impact. Suicide rates have declined thanks to efforts, but we remain the highest among the industrialized nations. Before the attitude can change, Japan must overcome the stigma attached to mental health and distance it from the traditional concept that it is a sign of weakness. Acceptance and respect is what we must learn as a society to advance into the future, and to open up discussions about the topic to create a comfortable environment to be able to speak about it.
To those suffering with mental illness in Waseda, the university offers free counseling to students. http://www.waseda.jp/student/compass/english/0633eslm.html
Sources
- McKay, L., Suzuki, E., & Chang, A. (2017).”Urban design and mental health in Tokyo: a city case study.” Journal of Urban Design and Mental Health 2017. Retrieved on May 16, 2018 from: https://www.urbandesignmentalhealth.com/journal-3—tokyo-case-study.html
- Harding, Christopher. (July 20, 2016). “How Japan came to believe in depression.” BBC. Retrieved on May 16, 2018 from: http://www.bbc.com/news/magazine-36824927
- Pedersen, Traci. (2018). “Contact with Nature Can Enhance Mental Health of City Dwellers.” Psych Central. Retrieved on May 18, 2018, from: https://psychcentral.com/news/2018/01/14/viewing-nature-improves-the-mental-well-being-of-city-residents/131190.html
- Unknown. (February 28, 2018). “Japan’s Abe abandons contentious labor reform after flawed data.” CNBC. Retrieved on May 18, 2018 from: https://www.cnbc.com/2018/02/28/japans-abe-abandons-contentious-labour-reform-given-flawed-data.html