Record pandemic suicides: Why are more and more children taking their own lives in Japan?

Suicide has a long history in Japan as a way to avoid something that is perceived as shame or dishonor. Amid the pandemic, the number of children who took their own lives in the Asian country reached its highest level in four decades, revealing the urgency of addressing the problem in that nation.

According to a survey by the Ministry of Education, 415 suicides of children, aged from elementary school to high school, were recorded amid school and classroom closures due to the COVID-19 pandemic last year. The figure, which broke a 1974 record, represents an increase of nearly 100 suicides from the previous year.

Sadly, these record highs are nothing new. As early as previous years, suicides among Japanese children were reported to have reached the highest level in 3 decades.

“Experts point to school pressures and bullying as possible triggers“Said an article in” The New York Times “in 2017, emphasizing that Japan has a persistent suicide problem.

“A separate survey conducted by Japan’s Cabinet Office in 2015 found that suicides among children tended to increase on September 1, speculating that students felt the school pressures more intensely after the summer break.“Added the medium.

As for those experienced in the past year, the Education Ministry said a record of more than 196,127 school-age children were absent for 30 days or more, media reported.

The results showed that changes in school and home environments due to the pandemic have had a major impact on children’s behavior, NHK said, citing a Ministry of Education official.

The suicide rate of Japan It’s been high relative to other nations for a long time, but the country cut the numbers by roughly 40% in 15 years, including 10 consecutive years of decline since 2009.

Yet amid the pandemic, suicides among the general population rose in 2020 after a decade of declines. The number of women who took their own lives increased amid the emotional and financial stress caused by the pandemic, although the rise was less among men.

Difficulty finding help

Although childhood suicide is not a problem unique to Japan, mental illness is not yet an open topic for discussion in society. It is especially difficult for children and teens who are depressed or anxious to seek help.

“In Japan, their biggest problem is that there is a greater stigma on mental health problems than in other countries. You are more likely to be bullied and less likely to get supportive and understanding services from your parents“Vickie Skorji, director of the crisis hotline at TELL, a crisis counseling and intervention service in Tokyo, told” The New York Times a few years ago. “

In addition, some experts say that children do not receive as much support from the family as in the past. While several generations of a family used to live together, these arrangements are less common now, so many children spend their days alone.

The problem increases if it is considered that “schools are generally not well equipped to deal with mental illness among students and education about mental illness is generally lacking”, agrega “The New York Times”.

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