Japanese Stabbing Spree

[Alondro]

There's just one problem; it's a little difficult to ask him why he was running after he's dead...

Precisely.   

[Tapewolf]

There's just one problem; it's a little difficult to ask him why he was running after he's dead...

Precisely.   

"If we had the death penalty, this problem wouldn't have happened."

The above quote, or something like was uttered by one of our (apparently more psychotic) MPs in relation to the Birmingham Six (who were falsely convicted of terrorism).

[Zina]

Zina: I would actually be interested in your thoughts about Japanese suicide. It may not change anything, but you'd be informing people about another culture and increasing their knowledge and understanding of other people in the world.
Personally, I don't think I could stand life in Japan. It seems to be a work, work, work, cog in machine sort of culture, and call me Irish, but I think there are more important things in life.

There's not really one source you can point to for the suicide issue in Japan, but a bunch of different sources. I'll try to hit on some of the bigger problems.

1) Pressure and stress. There is an alarmingly high teen suicide rate. This is mostly due to the fact that the Japanese society puts on unbelievable amount of pressure on kids to do well in school, starting when they are in middle school. Unlike America, in Japan you need to take entrance exams to get into High school. If you don't get into a good High School, then you wont get into a good College. Fail to get into a good College, then you will not get a good job, and then what good are you? Japan is all about the group, and not the individual. If you are not a productive member of society, then you are  worthless and others look down on you. Want to be an artist or a musician? Unless you are famous, you are the dregs of society. This is hammered into the kids minds, and they spend nights studying, going to night school and basically throwing out any sort of social life they might have just so they can do well on their exams. It's understandable that some kids just can't take the pressure.

2) Bullying. Bullying is a MAJOR problem in Japan. And it's not really a physical thing, like here, but a psychological thing, which in the long run, is much much worse. Kids have killed themselves because they were teased relentlessly for being fat, ugly, stupid, smart or shy. Parents don't realize how bad it is because these kids are usually too embarrassed  to tell them, and teachers wont do anything, even if they SEE it happening in front of them. Japan has only recently begun to crack down on this problem and telling teachers they NEED to do something if they see a kid getting bullied.

3) Culture. This is a lot trickier to explain. In Japanese culture, suicide isn't considered that bad, but rather a noble thing. In the past, Samurai's and other great warriors would commit suicide rather than admit defeat or fail their lord. Suicide was glorified and thought as the honorable thing to do, and that notion has been carried into modern day Japan. To kill yourself rather than shame your family with your failure is, according to society, an acceptable option.
Whereas here in the west, we view suicide as a very negative thing. It's a cowardly and selfish thing to do, or, in some religions, a sin. I admit I have a very hard time viewing suicide as noble.

4) Economy. The economy in Japan is doing really poorly. Several years ago, if you got a job, you had that job for life. Unless you did something HORRIBLE, you would not be fired from that job. EVER. Until you retired, that is. So all the pressure of getting into a good college eventually paid off, because you got a good job that you would never have to worry about losing. Now, with the economy the way it is, people are finding themselves without work or getting fired. So now you have a bunch of salarymen who just spent a good portion of their lives going through hell just so they can get this nice job, and suddenly they don't have it anymore and can't find other work that pays well.

So basically, these aren't things that can be changed over night, much less in a life-time. They are things that are so ingrained into the culture and society, that you'll need to take some extreme measures into order to "Fix" the problem. And even then I doubt the problem will go away.

Japan can be a wonderful and beautiful place, but like any country, it has its share of problems. I doubt I could have handled it either if I grew up there.

[Rakala]

I wonder what the Yakuza have to say about all this?

[Zina]

The Yakuza are probably one of the reasons that the crime in Japan is so low. The Yakuza, although involved in a lot of illegal activities, are all about honor and do not like people working individually outside of their group. They basically run all of the underground(and some of the mainstream) businesses, and if they catch someone doing something illegal that wasn't OK'd through them(importing and selling drugs, guns, porn, sex, etc), they put a stop to that right quick. In a bit of a messy fashion, admittedly, but they get the job done.

The Yakuza sometimes work with the police, but mostly on their own, and have figured out how to do things within the system, for the most part. And when they're working outside of the system, they know how to keep people quiet. They aren't a group of people you want to get involved in, and the average citizen is scared of them. But they have a lot of control in Japan and I'm not too sure what would happen if they suddenly disappeared.

And they have real bad-ass tattoos.

But I doubt they could do a single thing about the suicide problem.

[llearch n'n'daCorna]

But I doubt they could do a single thing about the suicide problem.

Except possibly pre-empt it. Which isn't going to help much.

[Eibborn]

Actually, this has been really interesting. Thanks for telling us about it! I didn't know that the Yakuza were like that- I just assumed that they were like North American gangs.

[Valynth]

Actually, this has been really interesting. Thanks for telling us about it! I didn't know that the Yakuza were like that- I just assumed that they were like North American gangs.

They are, but just make it heavily centralized in one group for the entire nation.  Now give them the mental state needed to keep it going(i.e. making it into a corporation).  Then you have Yakuza.

[Zina]

Honestly, they're more like the mafia, if anything else.

Japan does have biker gangs and all that, but if they ever want to do anything "big", they need to join the Yakuza.

[Alondro]

The reason the Italian mafia was so powerful for so long was that the Italian government was so fractured and corrupt that the mafia actually got things done for the people better than the legitimate government!

My great uncle Marty was the #2 man in the Gambino family in New York and ran the numbers rackets, by the way.  He had a hit put on him when he refused to follow the trend of the younger generation of mobsters to get into drugs and prostitution, but he died of a heart attack before they could carry it out.

Our family history is rather colorful.    My great-great Aunt Marie (now 94!) ws one of the original Rockettes, and has pics of her with quite a few of the old stars.  I think even a pic with Frank Sinatra.  Erf, I also have to ask who she's related to... one of the big-time old stars.  My brother will know all that stuff, he's the family historian. 

[ShadesFox]

More reason why Akihabara sucks ass.

Huh.

And here I thought the Japanese had guns?

Uuuh no. They don't. At all.
Aside from the police and gang members, that is.

But the general population makes do with their knives and box cutters.

No, a Japanese person can get a license for shotguns and air rifles.  Anyone with a (non-air) rifle license before 1971 can keep the rifle, however any descendants must turn over the rifle when he dies.

[Azlan]

The Yakuza do have strong honor and very traditional ways, but they too adapt to modern Japan and the global village.  This is not to say that the changes are in anyway recent, but have been occurring over time.  The Yakuza have multiple philosophies and camps within their structures, but they can be broken out into two groups with a reasonable amount of variance.  There are those that embrace westernized views and lean more towards organized crime and competition with the various cultural syndicates and there are those that hold true to the protector of the common person.

Even the Mafia held humble roots as the Sicilian revolutionary army against fascist Italy.  They branched into racketeering and other common practices of organized crime when they immigrated to the United States, culminating into the ultimate sin, la druga, through the ambitions of a few, ruthless Italian mobsters and some cunning Jewish entrepreneurs... but I digress...

The Japanese are a complex culture thrust forward at breakneck speed to modernize and become a player in world affairs.  Those that orchestrate power in Japan are very ambitious, the common folk have just been pulled along vicariously, placing untold amounts of stress on their cultural identity and values.     

[Rakala]

Yeah, the Yakuza have offices with plates on their doors that say their a Yakuza. They don't cause much trouble.