I'm a huge Japanophile. I am very passionate about Japanese culture--movies, anime, TV, toys, art, the language and more. However, I'm not one of those people who is blind to the flaws of the things they love. I am fully ready to admit that Japanese culture, like any other culture, has it's problems and can even be downright messed up at times. One thing that shocked me was learning that 34,000 Japanese citizens took their own lives in 2003. This numer comes from [http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/4809822.stm|a March 15, 2006 article] at http://News.BBC.co.uk.
In my opinion, that is terrible and while the Japanese people, stereotypically, believe that their is honor in suicide, I think it's not going to help turn around their decreasing popultation. Yep, it's true--fewer and fewer people are being born in Japan every year and with thousands taking their lives every year, the population is getting smaller even faster.
Now, I'm a big believer that suicide should not be a crime or something that gets you in a mental hospital. I think in a lot of ways you have to be certifiably insane to continue living.
I'm not even talking about people who are in the middle of a painful disease--I think if a person rationally decides that they are sick of life's stupidity/futility/harshness/etc, he or she should be able to take their own life.
While I believe that every human life is precious, I believe that our freedom of choice trumps it. Personally, I can see why a lot of people don't want to face another day on this fucked up backward-planet. However, when your country's suicide rate is that high, you gotta wonder why the Japanese aren't investing in better domestic PR!
...or SOMETHING...
I always thought life in a country like Japan (ultra-techy city-life and ultra-natural country-life) would be cool for everyone. I think perhaps Japanese people contemplating suicide should think about how special an wonderful their culture and their country can be. Sure, it's not perfect, but it beats the hell out of a lot of countries and it certainly is better than nothingness.
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