No. of suicides in Japan increased 8,000 due to pandemic: study

No doubt, not having those few extra chances to meet and greet people due to Covid is having a sad effect. Hoping very badly that this current Omicron wave will subside and put the worst finally behind us.

Nope, and yes.

The pandemic may have something to do with it, my humble opinion is that people commit suicide when they loose HOPE and hit one cold blooded face after the other.

No. of suicides in Japan increased 8,000 due to pandemic:

Misleading. Not "due to the panic", but due to the government reaction (closing facilities, asking people to stay home, telework, etc). Of course life as hikikumori is depressing for normal people. Thankfully, in Japan the government did not go into full authoritarian mode like in some Western countries. Still.... nobody commits suicide because of a virus.

Misleading. Not "due to the panic"

Yeh it is a sneaky way of shifting the blame, and the implication being that it could not have been handled any other way, it was just the "pandemic"........

What a heartless cruel society, if you lost your job in the pandemic, Hello Work would have paid 9 months tops, then it's sayonnara,, if you weren't able to find a job during those nine months then it's game over basically unless family /friends helped you out. Them's the rules, sink or swim, I guess a lot sank, so sad

It is the workplace culture that needs to change. Humans are seen as widgets, disposable, worked until they have no use or value. The ridiculous inefficiency of the Japanese workplace is laughable, having to work 12 or 14 hours a day to produce what other economies produce in 8 or less hours. The constant groveling to managers like they are some superhuman and feeling of guilt if someone needs to leave work early....even after the contracted hours have expired.

In context, to save the human cost of Covid, they shut the border, to keep the company working, death by suicide is an acceptable consequence, akin to corporate manslaughter.

Tragic, so many unnecessary lives lost. That's 22% as many people as registered covid deaths, many of which were merely coincidental deaths while circumstantially infected, comorbidities or people who would've died soon regardless - whereas suicides are more prevalent in the younger population and far more preventable... makes you wonder if the pandemic was deadlier in its physiologic infectious consequences, or the psychological trauma from social reaction to the virus (this is of course without factoring the social reactions effect on mitigating infections and subsequent deaths)

Hard to understand why people do that. Its great to be alive.

It is super freaking amazing to be alive.

But there are times in life when we hit rock bottom. Happens to everyone.

But specifically during the pandemic, after losing your all your jobs and with no hopes of the industry getting back. That combined with losing all contacts with friends due to the pandemic (no more social gatherings with people), with no one to talk, could lead some people to some dark corners in their minds. Then make a wrong decision.

I know because that was my case. I had suicidal thoughts in 2021. Thing that has never happened to me before. Obviously I realized that like you mentioned, it's great to be alive. But yeah, those dark corners in people's minds during not the greatest times could lead some to make the wrong decision.

Women in their 20s saw the largest rise, but women aged 19 or younger also saw a significant increase, according to the study conducted by a team of researchers including Taisuke Nakata, an associate professor at the University of Tokyo.

Due to the pandemic or due to the LDP response to the pandemic?

https://www.japantimes.co.jp/podcast/japan-gendery-inequality-pandemic/

The LDP told the population to practice "self-reliance" while lavishly bailing out all the business owning cronies it could during the pandemic as it continues to do so.

https://japantoday.com/category/politics/Suga%27s-rating-falls-to-55-in-second-poll-since-took-office

The crony capitalist hands of the LDP get even bloodier.

More lonely lives lead to more mental issues. That is the reason.

And the fact that they are still so many suicides each year while the number of young people is dropping is worrying, even more because ladies are more concerned. Remaining ladies will never have additional babies to recover from that situation. It is a nation handicap for a generation.

Providing hope is not a LDP thing.

"In Japan, economic hardship is believed to be one of the drivers of the suicide rate, as deaths tend to increase when the unemployment rate rises."

Ah, so it wasn't "the pandemic" as much as it was the poor government response. I know businesses that are still waiting for their 2020 assistance that they filled out multiple documents for (and in Japan, that means paperwork ten times more than anywhere else, plus hanko and faxing), and who closed down willingly upon the promise of said assistance. They will never, ever get it. Some of those people are probably among the suicides after having had to go bankrupt. And what was that article just today about the trillions of unspent money that will roll over on construction projects?

Not the pandemic itself, but restrictions imposed on life by governments at the prefectural and national level and the isolation and stress resulting from them.

This is just scratching the surface though, with widespread mental health issues bubbling away under the surface that haven't escalate to people taking their own lives.

Blaming an extra 8,000 suicides on the coronavirus pandemic is a bit of a stretch.

Let me guess - they interviewed those who killed themselves.

Suicide is an option for many however it's not the right decision. All bad things never last. Add good things never last. Things always change. It's like a roller coaster. Up times. Down times. The ride called LIFE is not always happy. People need to understand this. People think we should be happy all the time. People turn to drugs. Drink way too much to try to feel happy. Well, life is not meant to be happy all the time. If you can understand this, suicide is never a choice. It's not your choice to make. I guess younger people are just not educated on this matter. I have had terrible things happen to me in life. They come and go. Don't overthink.

How tragic. As expected, the so called cure was worse than the disease. Yet those who foresaw this happening and spoke up were shoutrd down and ridiculed.

May they all rest in peace.

maybe the focus should be in the main victims??

Why so binary? Can't the focus be on all victims?

Suicides by elementary, junior high and high school students hit a record high of 499 in 2020 and remained at an inflated level.

They can’t blame this increase on covid. Youth suicide is related to schooling and home life.

Some children have been born and not a world where they have never seen strangers faces because everyone is walking arou d with masks on. We are social animals and facial expressions form are large part of how we learn to interact with the world! Saying that being constantly masked is necessary at this stage of the endemic is ludicrous and dangerous for people's mental health as can be attested by these worrying statistics!

The J gov needs to come out and forcefully state when outside at least everyone should take off the masks!

I would like to see global data and international comparisons on suicide amid the pandemic.

That combined with losing all contacts with friends due to the pandemic (no more social gatherings with people), with no one to talk, could lead some people to some dark corners in their minds. Then make a wrong decision.

This.

I'm an introvert but still enjoy hanging out with friends in person. I haven't been particularly worried about the virus, but I know friends who were scared witless by it - or more accurately by the fear campaign around it - and catching up with them in person was near impossible because some of them didn't want to meet up in a group. A club I belonged to switched all their meetings to online, which just wasn't anywhere close to being the same. Online has its uses, but doesn't match going outside for a BBQ in the fresh air or a hike with a club, or a drinks night at an izakaya.

Of course, having a good family environment helps enormously, but for those without one, it's not hard to grasp how they can lose hope.

What these numbers tell me is the Japanese government is not supporting women at that young age group at all. These are the same women who are just going into child bearing years and they wonder why the birth rate is low. How can one think about getting married when they can't take care of themselves, we read all the time about women who kill or abandon their babies. Now throw in suicide and ask why they aren't in those numbers. Its easy to point Coivd for the increase in numbers but this problem is nothing new. It is a problem that has been around way before covid, what we do know is, this is a WELL KNOW problem and now a well documented excuse! In Japan a job is a man/women life with out that most feel worthless!!!

Women in their 20s saw the largest rise, but women aged 19 or younger also saw a significant increase, according to the study conducted by a team of researchers including Taisuke Nakata, an associate professor at the University of Tokyo.

This explains why their is an increase of suicides the people in Japan have needs as Maslow explained below if these needs can not be met one can easily give up. I lot of these needs are not being met!

List of Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs (From Most Basic to Most Advanced)                         

I.      Physiological Needs. These are the things that most, if not all, organisms need to survive, such as the ability to breathe, stay warm enough or cool enough, get sleep when we need it, and have enough food and water to survive.

II.      Safety and Security. The second set of needs provides for our safety and security. This includes being physically healthy and having the physical and interpersonal resources we need to survive, such as a home to live in. For children, this means having a reliable caregiver that keeps them healthy and provides for their physiological needs.

III.      Love and Belonging. Once safety and security are established, we focus on feeling connected to others, such as having a romantic partner and friends in our lives. 

IV.     Self-Esteem. Nearing the top of the hierarchy, our needs become centered on feeling good about ourselves. Are we recognized and respected for our contributions? Do people seem to like us for who we are or what we’re good at? We take these cues from other people and use them to support our positive beliefs about ourselves.

​V.     Self-Actualization. The most advanced need Maslow describes is that of being engaged in meaningful activities that align with our values and express who we are. Imagine a highly-paid and successful lawyer who does not find her work personally meaningful or believe in its purpose. Although all her other needs might be met, she likely would not feel she is self-actualized.

The “Pandemic” isn’t necessary to have a reason to do that.

The COVID solutions have been much worse than the problem. WHO states that 14.9 million people died during the lockdowns because they were unable to get proper medical care due to shortage of staffed hospitals.

Too many lives that have been lost. May they rest in peace.

A lot of speculation: the restrictions were extremely mild compared with nations like the United Kingdom. Older workers are thrown on the scrap heap the most in this corporate-capitalist system (same in other capitalist nations that utilize temporary workers). Economic angles - and younger generation feeling pressured too much at schooling. Hence, hikikomori and so on.

A lot of speculation: the restrictions were extremely mild compared with nations like the United Kingdom.

Not really - suicides are up in those regions too.

Chalk up another whole slew of deaths to largely unnecessary Covid countermeasures directly correlated with the surge in suicides, suicide-murders, stress induced illnesses, and various other health conditions that have completely distorted not only public health but also the economy, with profound impacts which will continue to be felt for years to come. Those who jumped on the bandwagon to support the overkill need to be reminded of this, at every turn!

2/3 of the suicides are male. The article and many of the comments seemed to also talk about the difficulties females face…if 2/3 of the suicides were female…that is understandable. The main victims are male… without victime blaming or straight up sexism, maybe the focus should be in the main victims??

Humans are social beings …pandemic managed to sever the connection between individuals… creating isolation and despair… younger generations are the most affected as their brain is not fully mature; the neurochemistry balance of the brain is hard to correct with antidepressants hence the high rate of suicides among people in their 20s(30% of total suicides for the age group ).

Lindsay: When I lived @ Zama, a very young girl stepped in front of a train there, unbelievable. I don’t think she was even 15.

Wasn’t hard to find:

https://japantoday.com/category/national/girl-hit-by-train-may-have-committed-suicide-due-to-bullying-say-police

A terrifying number. But its true, its hard to live in Japan. Putting aside ridiculously expensive (and not always natural) food, high cost of living, cruel corporate culture, cruel environment, lack of sympathy to each other, depression on the rise, abundant unhealthy family environments, how can it be easy to survive for a young girl in any kind of a country, especially in a country where God is almost non existent for the people. And where there’s no God, there’s no hope. Hope their souls can go to a better place.

Hard to understand why people do that. Its great to be alive.

First we should exclude all those economic reasons, otherwise whole other continents or countries would be emptied too from suicides, but they are not. Some have hugest populations, many childbirths, Africa or India for example, others party and dance all day like in Brazil and such. It’s more a thing of individual mindset or capabilities of abiding to new situations or plans for life. Yes, for example the young women in majority can’t marry rich anymore , because even two of those nowadays low standard incomes are a daily challenge and an economical threat for everyone of us. And if the nightclubs and bars are closed due to corona they can’t get hands on new expensive handbags for selling or meet a new sugar daddy every evening. But that’s still no reason for suicide. One could try another career, study something new, develop a hobby or simply wait for and enjoy then the newest manga book or song from the favorite boy group and so on. Difficult to understand or analyze, my guess is that it is always something very individual and something we not involved bystanders can’t ever see or feel like they have before they commit it.

In Japan, economic hardship is believed to be one of the drivers of the suicide rate, as deaths tend to increase when the unemployment rate rises.

.....

The government’s inadequate inability to properly manage their constant dictates and mass brainwashing of the Japanese populace is the driver of suicides NOT the virus!

It was fear monger in.....

The sad underreported statistic of the Covid lunacy!

Yet there are still people out there who want to return to lock down etc.

The figures for suicide here, year on year run about 20,000.

It is a major problem!

Japan was ranking 49th in the list of countries by suicide rate in 2019 (latest global data available). South Korea 12th, US 31st, Finland 38th