Coming from American origins gives a person a very narrow idea of ​​what death means. For Americans, most if not all deaths are treated equally based on the individual's cultural background, which in the United States is predominantly white, middle class, and Christian or some variation thereof. Death is a heartbreaking part of life, something to be avoided at all costs, while at the same time it is known that death is inevitable. In other societies around the world, the idea of ​​death is very different from that of the United States. Beliefs about death are influenced by a number of variables such as religions, cultures and external factors. In Japan, fundamental beliefs about death have hardly changed for hundreds of years. Like the vast majority of non-Westernized societies, Japan is less clinical about death than the United States. The body is often kept at home and cleaned immediately before or after death by family members. Funeral arrangements are unheard of and the procedures are organized and carried out by the temple of the deceased. One of the few similarities between the two cultures is the eternal honoring of the dead by the living. The exception in their customs regarding mortality is death by suicide. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get an Original Essay In the United States, death by suicide is condemned by many religions, and due to mental health stigma, it is often not talked about for long by family or friends of the deceased. If the cause of death is suicide, sometimes the death is not listed in the obituaries. Individuals in the United States usually cite personal dissatisfaction or depression as the reason for their suicide and have done so throughout history. In Japan, the suicide of a loved one is socially considered so damning to the family image that many people simply disappear and die alone. This greatly complicates typical funeral rituals. In Japan, reasons for suicide have changed throughout history, slowly becoming more Westernized, and fewer and fewer people specifically mention honor, turning more often to the Western explanation that they see no meaning in existence. While suicide in the United States has had a stagnant history, in which shame is a constant factor in it all, its history in Japan is much more complicated, deeply entangled in sociocultural norms and confusing religious ties. an issue of importance since feudal times, especially in the samurai class since it is irremediably intertwined with the code of bushido. The samurai class was a lower-middle class of soldiers for hire, most of whom followed the code of bushido. The core of this code was honor and payment for any infraction of that value with a cost of up to the individual's life. In the past, suicide was used to atone for mistakes or infractions of the honor of the lord under whom the individual worked. This ritual, called seppuku, involved disembowelling with a short blade called tanto. Often, seppuku was conducted publicly with multiple spectators present to observe and assist other ritual rites of the ceremony. Although this ritual suicide was less common than many Western societies portray it in pop culture and films, the practice continued to be in practice longer than many realize, even into World War II as a derivative of the original ritual . According to the rituals and traditions of the feudal era, suicide was typically ordered by the lord under whom the samurai worked. As time passed and the samurai class dissipated, seppukuit became a self-imposed atonement for a perceived crime against morality that would bring shame to an individual, their family, or Japan as a country. An example of seppuku during World War II was after the Battle of Okinawa: once it became clear that the Japanese forces had been defeated, General Mitsuru Ushijima carried out seppuku to compensate for his failure (BBC, 2014). Although an occasional series of ritual seppuku continued into World War II, the use of kamikaze pilots replaced the trends of the last century. Kamikazes, translated as “divine wind,” were air strikes by planes packed with explosives. The pilot would intentionally crash into Allied ships or targets, killing himself, but intending to cause greater destruction and disabling effects than a conventional attack on the other side could. The request for kamikaze pilots received a shocking response, as the Imperial Japanese Army received three times more requests than available aircraft. Most of the pilots were college students in their twenties, motivated by the obligation to serve their nation and the Emperor. Survivor Tadamatsu Itatsu claimed that he and the other young men who volunteered were not crazy and enjoyed the idea of ​​dying, but rather believed that their actions were necessary to protect mainland Japan from an Allied invasion, and die for that cause would have been the most honorable gesture. sacrifice. On the eve of the Japanese surrender, on August 16, 1945, Admiral Takijiro Onishi, known as "the father of kamikazes", committed suicide, leaving a note in which he apologized to his dead pilots, since their sacrifice had been in vain. Kamikaze volunteers who survived the war, like Itatsu, struggled with suicidal thoughts with other methods, overwhelmed by survivor's guilt and a desire to die with their fallen fellow pilots (BBC, 2014). Today, kamikaze pilots remain one of the most iconic and infamous symbols of the Japanese Axis, representing their fierce obedience to their emperor and their unwavering will to defend their homeland. Another suicide trend in Japan around World War II is the mass suicides of both civilians and soldiers in response to the threat. In the Battle of Saipan, a small island under Japanese rule, a warning given by the Japanese government caused mass suicide of many civilians on the island. Although there is some controversy, the general consensus seems to be that the warning given by the government to citizens promised them the same spiritual status in the afterlife as those who died in battle if they committed suicide before being killed or captured by the Americans . troops. The underlying psychology here is still suicide for the honor of the country, as seppuku was suicide for the honor of the individual's ruler. Reports say the grenades were distributed to assist civilians in mass suicides, and those who survived the grenades usually found another method or means to die so as to gain the same honorable status as their peers. Looking ahead, looking at the next fifty years, suicide trends in Japan have not changed in number, but rather in method and style. In the early 2000s, rumors of “Japanese suicide cults” began to circulate in the United States as an explanation for several suicides that appeared to have occurred in groups or by pacts. These were typically groups of two to six young people, in their teens to thirties, found dead from carbon dioxide poisoning, overdose, or a similar method. Many of these groups form through online meetings or chat rooms, which allow people to share their thoughtsresources and/or ideas. These suicides often have a strong thematic coherence, as they are often based on a non-violent method, involve meeting for the act and moving to a secluded location to carry out the act. This represents a huge leap from the mass ritual suicides of the past, which were public and gruesome. Suicides in the past were driven by cultural traditions, whereas now they are influenced by Western individualistic ideals of personal dissatisfaction rather than family dishonor. An increasingly common location for individuals to commit suicide since the 2008 financial crisis in Japan is the Aokigahara forest at the foot of Mount Fuji. The forest lends itself to this phenomenon for several reasons: its central location in Japan provides a similar pilgrimage for all locations, its density creates a fairytale labyrinth in which it is easy to find solitude and silence in which to carry out the deed, and its historical significance in folklore and religion, which believed that the forest is home to many spirits and demons. Statistically, this forest is the Japanese version of the Golden Gate Bridge found in San Francisco, California, United States. It sees the highest number of suicides per year than any other location in Japan. Despite its popularity as an endangered location for much of Japan, locals in the area rarely visit the forest with any intent other than hiking. Many in the Mount Fuji area instead choose to commit suicide by throwing themselves in front of trains. One train line in particular has more suicides than any other in Japan thanks to its express trains and low maintenance costs. This is because if an individual dies when hit by a train in Japan, the surviving family must pay for the maintenance necessary to restore the line to its normal schedule. Another scenic spot in Japan, known for both sightseeing and suicide attempts, is the Tojinbo Cliffs in Fukui Prefecture. The cliffs remained a popular site for suicide attempts until local fishermen began complaining of having to fish bodies out of the sea, and in response the government organized a group of volunteers who patrol the cliffs every day, looking for those who intend to jump. The story of a retired police officer, Yukio Shige, who acts as a volunteer for this mission became sensationalized in news around the world and became a local hero. It is estimated that Shige has saved 500 lives in the past by wandering the cliffs with binoculars, talking to desperate people, and offering resources to improve their lives (Calderwood, 2015). Although Tojinbo Cliff is still notorious as a suicide destination, the local government has taken steps to reduce the rate of successful deaths. Nowadays, suicide statistics are often explained by demographics. The largest number of suicides by location in Japan are collective in rural and elderly areas. These are the places where people cannot support themselves with the available means. This trend, however, is more recent as it follows the 2008 financial crisis and the 2011 earthquake. The highest number of suicides occurred among middle-aged working-class adults. Unlike current demographics, this trend can be linked to the more traditional ideology of suicide to defend honor. Businessmen who faced bankruptcy due to the economic crisis often cited the honor of their first and last name in the reasons for suicide, along with the reduced long-term cost to their family. This trend has been exacerbated by the fact that most adults belong to Japan's "Lost Generation," a generation not unlike Generation X in the United States.born to those who had grown up with war-damaged or absent parents, creating what is known in Japan as the children's generation. Many cite this as the reason for the increase in suicides after World War II. Because of the economic hardship and social tensions following World War II, many of this generation have few, if any, life skills that can be employed. This causes many people to live as vagrants, who do not really cook for themselves and may not have a stable job, but rather earn money by working at a day job. Although many of these people have attended good schools or universities, the work culture in Japan does not allow for much in the way of retirement, and almost every person in the country old enough to work does so. For those who cannot find work, there is immense social stigma from family and friends, which can exacerbate existing mental health problems. Another cultural factor that plays into Japan's staggering suicide rate is the influence of religion. While major world religions such as Christianity, Judaism, and Islam all have passages prohibiting suicide, Shinto and Buddhism, the two major religions of Japan, do not. In Shinto belief, their depiction of the afterlife is that once someone dies, their spirit, or kami, will go to another world where spirits reside. It is neither a good place nor a bad place, so it is almost like limbo, however their spirits can return to those who perform the rituals correctly. Unlike the major religions mentioned above which forbid suicide and claim that the action will deny entry into the afterlife, Shinto is no exception. Some see Shinto as rather ambivalent towards suicide, as even ritual suicides are condoned. However, others argue that Shinto discourages suicide, although it is not a condemnatory action, since life is given by ancestors and nature, and therefore should not be wasted or ended unnaturally (Kaneko, 2014). In Buddhism, suicide is not a widely discussed or debated topic. In a story of the Buddha before reaching enlightenment, he had practiced extreme suffering with the five ascetics after discovering the existence of old age, illness and death after sneaking out of his palace as a young teenage prince. However, he freed himself from his negative contemplations and began seeking enlightenment after realizing that he did not have to starve to find happiness. This tale is one of the few references to suicide in Buddhist theology. In regards to how suicide affects the Buddhist afterlife, Buddhists believe in reincarnation and many believe that suicide can lead to an unfavorable rebirth (January 2017) due to the way they treated their life in the previous life . Ultimately, the lack of religious prohibition against suicide is believed to lead to the nation's ambivalence towards such an act. A silver lining to this mental health crisis is that it has forced Japan to ease some of the stigma around mental health, allowing more people to feel comfortable about suicide. get help from doctors and qualified professionals. However, this is a recent change. Many people from older generations currently affected by mental health issues still believe that asking for help is a sign of weakness or that it could damage their family name. Although this stigma is not often passed down from generation to generation, it still contributes to increased suicide rates in rural and more rural populations.