Why does Japan have such a high suicide rate?

It seems over simplistic but the reason is because they are unhappy. The problem is that they have a vertical society where a person at the bottom feels worthless and without a future. Without wealthy parents, graduation from a top school, good connections, a good job - Japanese see themselves as useless and a failure. Other cultures have people who can still maintain dignity and in fact feel quite successful without having to conform to the narrow view of success that the Japanese have. Suicide rates in Japan will continue to worsen as the economy worsens. Countries in much worse shape have much happier people. Ex. Thailand. The problem? The Japanese are their own worst enemies.

Japan is an interesting country. It can be incredibly superficial, but it's also the country of Zen Buddhism. Chances are that your friend and so many other people were just totally caught up in their life, unable to take a step back and see that thoughts, emotions, people, and everything comes and goes. When you take everything at face value, you're stuck. In Japan you can get really busy with your "life". Some people have the ability to not identify with everything that happens, whereas some people don't. You've got to value that part of yourself that sees everything come and go more than you value the parts of your life that come and go.

Generally, intelligent people know a lot of serious truth which you don't know. They tend to consider many things even if they don't want to. And, those truth bother them. Actually, some books for Japanese business men recommend to become stupid. Then, do you know a recent study that those who post racist troll are low-IQ people? A lot of media reported this study. Don't you know it? You'd better stop your world-wide racial harassment. http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index;_ylt=AvaXKOmB0bJDOpAhl07cfOLty6IX;_ylv=3?qid=20120605134155AAURmIr http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index;_ylt=AuTXDv8T8kFedOilH9R7xyTty6IX;_ylv=3?qid=20120605020730AAZ3lHl http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index;_ylt=AsCWh.gfY0YQ5CxkmFz5oW7ty6IX;_ylv=3?qid=20120530011136AA85CAH

well iits goin down now, but like otherz have said its a shame related thing. yoo know the number one reason tho iz school and grades and because japanese care less and less are grades the rates are dropping! japan used to be the #1 sicide country .. now its korea, haa. sorry for your loss man.

They're kamikazees, they kill themselves They're depressed and crazy

In Japanese culture shame is a big thing. Seppuku is a traditional suicide method since the samurai age. Slicing your stomacg open from one side to the other dieing in excrutiating pain. But you would die in honor.

It's nonsense to associate your friend's case with the overall high suicide rate in Japan. It's hard to accept it when you lose someone very close in such a way, but you can never understand why your friend had to die. It is just not possible to completely understand what he had gone throught in his whole life and how much pain he had. It's sad but all you can do is cry for him. As for Japan's high suicide rate, privatizations and liberalization of the economy has caused a lot of people to feel extremely uncertain about their future and feel hopeless, and that can be one of the major contributing factors to it. It is interesting that ex-communist countries also tend to have relatively high suicide rates. Japan is a little like a socialistic country and has followed a somewhat similar path to that of ex-communist countries. After the WWII, Japan became a democratic nation, and people were given democracy and civil rights, like gifts from the government, instead of fighting for them to earn them. Since then Japan always had a strong government that lead the nation's economic development as its top priority with the so-called convoy system. Under the system, even uncompetitive small companies were protected by government interventions so there would be no dropouts, and no one had to worry if they might get fired the next day. People could feel secure because the government and their companies led by the government provided the workers with the national pension and employees' welfare schemes. Again the worker’s benefits were just given to them within the government-led system. Once people entered a company, even if they were unskilled laborers in a very small company, they could almost be sure they could stay employed there until retirement, getting enough salary to get married, constantly promoted, buy a house, support their family, and maybe occasionally go on trips. They had hopes for their future. These government-led systems that protected people fell apart with the advance of globalization and economic liberalization. These things mean competition, and all of a sudden the companies started going bankrupt, national pension system was failing, jobs became temporary, wages were cut, people were getting fired to cut costs. Compared to before, people have to work a lot more but many can’t even afford a house now. Labor unions were powerless to prevent these changes because they were never needed when the convoy system was working. People couldn't fight for their rights because they had never earned their rights in the first place. After all these years people were suddenly expected to take care of themselves in the competitive world. It was natural they didn't know what to do and despaired of their lives.

Because the culture demands the individual Japanese to obey and abide by rules that does not leave any room for deviation. Japanese society is not a permissive society. It is so strict that what most outsiders thinks as examples of nonconformity in Japan is mostly an accepted form of outlet bounded by rules. Japan is what sociologists call a "shame based" culture. This means that the Japanese obey and behave in an acceptable way because they fear shame. A shame based culture is one where the individual bares a tremendous amount to mental stress and faces being ostracized by all who knows him if it becomes known that he broke a rule - written or unwritten. I can't speak to the other causes of suicide in Japan, but in your friend's case when he got his girlfriend pregnant, he basically lost all of his Japanese friends and family members; relatives will have nothing to do with him. Even friends his age who may not have wanted to distance themselves from him will be forced to do so by their parents. He also destroyed his girlfriend's life because she will never have a normal life - her family will probably have to move because she and her family will be treated like lepers. And then there is the baby who will bare a social stigma for the rest of his/her life because his/her parents and now even worse because the father commited suicide. The isn't just sad, it is a tragedy and it isn't just your friend who suffered. His girlfriend and the baby will suffer for it for the rest of their lives.

Try working for a japanese company and you will get it very quickly.