Japan's shame culture

[thomas]

When recession takes its toll...

In tough times, suicides over debts surge in Japan's shame culture

[...] Saito's story -- told in a new book with a dozen other children who lost parents to suicide, mostly over money problems -- has struck a chord in this nation, where tough times are now a major force driving 31,000 Japanese a year to take their own lives. The per capita suicide rate in Japan is roughly twice that of the United States. And a recent surge in debt-linked suicides is alarming this nation, battling a long slowdown that has sent unemployment, bankruptcies and bad debts soaring. In just four months, 60,000 copies have been published of "I Could Never Say It Was Suicide," compiled by Ashinaga, a nonprofit group that gives financial aid to children who have lost their parents. The book has drawn an outpouring of letters to the publisher and reviews in the media about Japan's culture of shame over debts and suicide. "The problem is that people can't talk about their troubles. My father was like that. He died without telling anybody," said Saito, 22, of his father's 1994 death. [...]

=> http://www.nj.com/newsflash/business...lash-financial

Ashinaga.com (J/E)

=> http://www.japanreference.com/cgi-bin/jump.cgi?ID=4829