God damn. Sometimes I forget how powerful The New Yorker's writing can feel. Superb.
A Buddhist monk confronts Japan’s suicide culture (2013)
41–50 of 183 posts
Re: A Buddhist monk confronts Japan’s suicide culture (2013)
#42The Hikikomori has become a standard anime trope. Starting in 2009 in Anohana, the main character is a recovering Hikikomori (who went through quite a depressing story that caused him to withdraw from society). This last spring, there were at least three major animes revolving around the concept. "Nanana's burried treasure", "No Game No Life", and "Mekakucity actors" all have title characters who are Hikikomoris. Hik…
Just to contrast your experience, I had a very interesting two month working near Tokyo. The whole time I was there I didn't see any anime, or hikkimori and the whole thing didn't resemble anime at all (though.. granted, I'm not an expert in the genre). The only places you saw anything anime related was at gambling establishments and certain districts of Tokyo. I think on the whole, that subculture is looked down upo…
You shouldn't expect to run into hikkimori as their very nature is to shut themselves in
Re: A Buddhist monk confronts Japan’s suicide culture (2013)
#43By tradition, suicide can absolve guilt and cancel debt, can restore honor and prove loyalty. In this respect I feel Japan's culture is superior to ours in the USA. For example, I felt Mark Madoff's suicide was entirely appropriate, a final act that put the rest of his life in a more dignified context. Yet every article one reads about it treats the suicide as an additional disgrace, yet another horrible thing we can…
From what I've just read it seems that Mark Madoff wasn't involved in his father's fraud, so I fail to see how his suicide was entirely appropriate. Also from a pragmatic point of view, the victims of the fraud didn't get their money back, so his death was basically pointless except for the revenge factor.
From wikipedia: "Mark deposited $745,482 and withdrew $18.1 million."
As a compliance officer at one point.
Re: A Buddhist monk confronts Japan’s suicide culture (2013)
#44The concluding paragraph was interesting to read. Not sure the legitimacy of the story but it is something to think about.
Reminds me of "The Rabbi's Dance"
"The people of this town were all excited about the Rabbi’s visit for they knew that it was something rare and they looked forward to the holy man’s wisdom which they hoped would ease their suffering and their hard lives. So for weeks before he arrived, individuals reflected on what they would like to speak with him about, the questions they would like to pose and so on. They could hardly wait for the Rabbi to answer their urgent queries." Continued...http://basicindia.typepad.com/basicindia/2005/06/the_rabbis_...
Re: A Buddhist monk confronts Japan’s suicide culture (2013)
#45By tradition, suicide can absolve guilt and cancel debt, can restore honor and prove loyalty. In this respect I feel Japan's culture is superior to ours in the USA. For example, I felt Mark Madoff's suicide was entirely appropriate, a final act that put the rest of his life in a more dignified context. Yet every article one reads about it treats the suicide as an additional disgrace, yet another horrible thing we can…
The man did not do anything wrong, left a wife and two children, there was nothing there that helped 'put his life in a more dignified context' because he may have profited from his fathers fraud indirectly but there is no evidence that he knew about it.
I think you may be confusing the son with the father.
http://www.forbes.com/sites/clareoconnor/2011/10/25/mark-mad...
Re: A Buddhist monk confronts Japan’s suicide culture (2013)
#46The Hikikomori has become a standard anime trope. Starting in 2009 in Anohana, the main character is a recovering Hikikomori (who went through quite a depressing story that caused him to withdraw from society). This last spring, there were at least three major animes revolving around the concept. "Nanana's burried treasure", "No Game No Life", and "Mekakucity actors" all have title characters who are Hikikomoris. Hik…
This trope definitely didn't begin in 2009, as "the hikikomori anime", NHKにようこそ, was written in 2002 and adapted to anime in 2006. Maybe it's been more popular recently, but most anime are adaptations of some other format that have already been successful over the course of years. Something to keep in mind is that anime/manga satisfies a niche market and the hikikomori are actually a demographic for sales; making content that appeals to your demographics is good for business.
Re: A Buddhist monk confronts Japan’s suicide culture (2013)
#47Earlier quoted context omitted.
>Also, the whole samurai/bushido thing essentially doesn't exist for anyone under fifty over there. I've been led to believe, (though I may be wrong, probably am) that it didn't really exist for the samurai either. In real life, they were elitist thugs and enforcers, and the mythology of bushido was added by old and bored samurai after Japanese society had more or less outlawed their violent ways.
It's as if the culture, history, and thought of Japan is as complex, multifaceted, and contradictory as that of any other place. Anyway, expats are often opinionated with respect to controversial aspects of their home countries.
I heard it described like someone a hundred years from now found a high school handbook and decided that all high school students must be orderly, not chew gum, speak politely, respect their teachers, etc...
Re: A Buddhist monk confronts Japan’s suicide culture (2013)
#48I used to live near the Tojimbo cliffs and have been thinking about the place (and what happens there) on and off since my first visit. I also really liked this NYT article, about a retired cop who made it his mission to stop suicide attempts at the cliffs. 222 lives had been saved as of late 2009. http://www.nytimes.com/2009/12/18/world/asia/18japan.html?_r...
"Mr. Shige says his approach to stopping suicides is quite simple: when he finds a likely person, he walks up and gently begins a conversation. The person, usually a man, quickly breaks down in tears, happy to find someone to listen to his problems."
Genuine empathy can be both powerful and shocking.
Re: A Buddhist monk confronts Japan’s suicide culture (2013)
#49Amazing. Japanese culture is the only one I know of where suicide is encourage and respected—is there any reason for that?
Hungarian culture also looks more positively on suicide than others. I learned this from Freakanomics, which did a very interesting episode on suicide: http://freakonomics.com/2011/08/31/new-freakonomics-radio-po...
Re: A Buddhist monk confronts Japan’s suicide culture (2013)
#50[deleted]