[Eorzea]

I got the idea for this topic from the following site/URL:
http://www.japantoda...30000-each-year

Having been in Japan for over three years now, I'd say the main reason for suicides is the way people treat their jobs. Work is everything over here! Not for everyone, mind you, but for the large majority. Insane working hours, too! Needless overtime is quite abundant as well. It's not at all uncommon for employees to simply sit around and work hours of overtime (often unpaid) because that's the unwritten rule of what's expected of them. People very rarely take paid holidays, either, unless it's during a time period designated by their company.

It's too much pressure/responsibility and is unnecessary. I think this kind of behavior/mindset is really detrimental to individuals, families, overall health and happiness.

The other major problem is bullying in schools, but I don't know what the solution is. I assume the answers lies within the way/method students are(n't) disciplined, but I can't be certain.

[davidlionheart]

Turns out that working too hard and being a prosperous country has a lot of downs uh. The way that i feel is going up on a spiral, is that everywhere humans are taking too much time on the computer and tv, entertainment mix that with work and trying to keep up with a social life, and you got yourself a mess.

I think the answer is just to simplify everything, that is what i have done. Get some priorities straight. But thats just me speaking from my experiences.

[Bewoulf]

That will do it. Some nations in the world (cough... Greece... cough) are really lazy. But I think they should lighten up a little bit. Paid holidays are not a bad thing. Corporations make enough money that they can afford this. It's good for the company because their best employees become refreshed, are more healthy, and generally more productive. Companies are willing to pay for this (atleast in the states). At my work, just having some tools powered on and idle cost more than having an employee at work. Paid holidays are a very minor cost.

The Japanese are a very passionate people. When it comes to commitments, they stick to them. They take them very seriously, as a matter of honor. So I could see this being the case for them. They are definitely an interesting culture.

[Siali]

That's what I've noticed from Japanese media (movies, comics, books ect..) is that honor is paramount in their society and being a hard worker is a huge part of it. I think the other thing that is unhealthy is the extremely high competition for employment period, you've got people with the mind of physicists having regular jobs while anyone who falls below that is stuck in dead end positions scrapping by to make ends meet.

It's a very high pressure society. What can be done? Move to Canada we gots room! lol

I have met people from Asia (can't remember where exactly) who were visiting my area (northern Can) and they said they just loved it here, people are friendly and welcoming and there's JOBS the only thing they had a hard time with was the snow... But if you can contend with that there's lots of opportunity in the north right now, especially if you have a degree in medicine, does not matter which country you hail from.

As for what can be done in Japan, well more shifts would probably be nice, some position sharing maybe? Some people may have to take pay cuts but if there were allowed more free time it might be worth it.. I don't know enough about the economy there to know for sure.

Bullying is a problem everywhere, though less in NA then it was decades ago. But that's because of social organisations that will support victims and help them get out of a bullying situation. Perhaps this is needed in Japan.

[Bewoulf]

The video game industry (being as big as it is in Japan) is also pretty tense, even in NA and Europe (hehe Europe having tense jobs?). There's a huge rush to get the game out and on the shelves. The longer a game is in production, the more money is spent and the less money is made. I think maybe that's why Japan had such a huge hold on the video game market for so long. People in Japan work like that voluntarily. I remember reading about Yasunori Mitsuda being hospitalized several times during the creation of Chrono Trigger's (and other games') music. The guy would even sleep at work and dream about music (creating music from his dreams actually).

I don't know... I stick by paid holidays being a huge stress reliever. You take some R&R but don't stress about bills or wages being cut. Heck, I remember waking up on memorial day last year (same job different shift, I now have mondays off normally) and still being in my pajamas close to 11AM. Told my wife I was getting paid to sit in my PJs and be lazy. It was great! Give the Japanese longer vacations, and I really think that occupation-caused suicides will be reduced. But that's definitely a long shot from changing the entire culture about death and suicide. Despite the fact that the Japanese have really changed their views on suicide, this change is recent. Honorable suicide is still important to their culture. It will change eventually, as all things do. It's just too bad it can't happen sooner. They have such a rich culture and heritage, I would love to live there.

[Chros]

I highly doubt work ethic is actually a cause of the suicide rate, however work is definitely a factor. The amount of work they do is actually an illusion. At an office before lunch so much bullshitting around happens you get hardly any work done (like 11 smoke breaks before lunch break then an hr nap after lunch to get rid of the itis). However if someone does actually work their ass off they could probably finish before COB like 4 pm or sometime around their. Sadly, that person would be considered a bad worker, go figure.

I think the real issue is how the people here were raised on how to treat stress. They don't do so much to relieve a lot of the little things and its very common for most people here to just bottle it up. Once the pressure is too great from the normal grind they explode and do crazy things (suicide, heinous crimes, etc).

To actually fix the said problem of suicide you would have to change the culture and how people are raised or how they use their off time. It would be an absolutely monumental task to undertake, or it would take many many years to accomplish.

Anyways, that's just what I think of it.