The virus that took the world by storm also leaves unexpected effects. In Japan, it has helped alleviate an endemic disease: its suicide rate. In April, it fell by 20%, its biggest drop in five years, even though many of the assistance programs have been suspended or short-staffed due to confinement and in a context of high stress. A positive result that invites you to experiment with new ways of dealing with a social evil that worries the Japanese authorities.
It is not often heard, but jisatsu is a word that hides a big problem. No country in the G-7 counts as many suicides as Japan, to the point that it is the leading cause of death for men aged 20 to 44. In 2013, 21.4 out of every 100,000 inhabitants died by their own hand, an index that is almost double the average of the rest of developed countries (12.7). According to the findings of a survey conducted by The Nippon Foundation in 2016, one in four Japanese "has seriously considered killing himself." Kathryn Tanaka, professor of cultural studies at Otemae University, highlights two factors to explain "this complex issue": "The total lack of balance between professional and personal life" and "the stigma that still surrounds mental health."
In recent decades, the Japanese government has had an impact on the second factor, making suicide prevention a public health priority. Even in the 1990s, the subject was a taboo in Japanese society, to the point that affected families had difficulty finding professional support. The change came from 2005, when the phenomenon began to be conceptualized as a social problem rather than an intimate issue, which triggered the development of a protocol at all levels of the Administration. Since its revision in 2016, the Basic Act of Countermeasures against Suicide establishes which prefectures, cities and towns should implement specific strategic measures.
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As a consequence, suicide has maintained a continued downward trend since it peaked in 2003 with 34,000 deaths. In 2012, they dropped from the 30,000 mark for the first time. In 2015, the figure decreased to 24,000. The 20,000 finados of 2019 represented the tenth consecutive annual reduction. "Relief from stigmatization, increased access to Internet resources and experts, and a stable economy" are, in Tanaka's opinion, the main causes of this success. But not all metrics are so hopeful.
There is a collective for which this bearish pattern has been reversed. According to data from the Ministry of Education, child suicides are at their peak. In the school year between 2016 and 2017, for example, 250 students from primary and secondary education took their lives, a figure that quintupled the previous one and was the highest in almost three decades. School abuse is one of the key elements in this dynamic, which is why it is common for April to see a rise in the number of cases, as it is the month in which the academic year begins. The extension of the start of classes is one of the arguments put forward to interpret the recent and unexpected drop.
When the government decreed a state of emergency in early April, authorities expected the numbers to get worse. It has turned out to be the other way around: during this month, 1,455 people took their lives, 359 fewer than in the same period of the previous year. Now, experts are trying to analyze which aspects of the confinement, already settled, has had a positive impact. Many point to teleworking and more time in the company of loved ones. The historical series, for its part, reflects that suicides are less frequent in the face of natural disasters, as illustrated by the drop experienced during the tsunami and the subsequent nuclear disaster in Fukushima in 2011.
Economic factors, however, are critical. During the 1997 Asian financial crisis, the self-inflicted death rate experienced an unprecedented 35% rise, making authorities fear the impact of the current recession. "There are many theories," says Tanaka, "although there is one particularly striking aspect: much of the assistance has gone from being presence to being online . I sense that this new form of interaction may be more effective. It is an interesting path to explore. ”
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