Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

A Buddhist monk confronts Japan’s suicide culture (2013)

newyorker.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

81–90 of 183 posts

Re: A Buddhist monk confronts Japan’s suicide culture (2013)

#81

Post by cphuntington97 »

Loughla wrote: post #22

The only thing I can't get over is how work focused all of the letters are. Sure, they all have family struggles, but they're less concerned about the particular struggles and more concerned about how that impacts their work. This article is phrased as if the entire Japanese culture is based on a disproportionate work-life balance to the extreme.

Are things any different anywhere else?

Our hunting-gathering days are over. We used to chop down wood for the fire; now, we go to work, and push a button on the wall to stay warm.

To work is to live in modern society.

Re: A Buddhist monk confronts Japan’s suicide culture (2013)

#82

Post by cyorir »

ranran876 wrote: post #35
dragontamer wrote: post #12

The 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…

We have to keep in mind that much of Anime targets specific demographics and specific subcultures. It is not usually intended to portray society in a realistic or general manner, with some exceptions.

Re: A Buddhist monk confronts Japan’s suicide culture (2013)

#83

Post by ranran876 »

aestra wrote: post #73
ranran876 wrote: post #35

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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…

>The only places you saw anything anime related was at gambling establishments and certain districts of Tokyo. How about airplanes? :) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pok%C3%A9mon_Jet

I wonder if the Japanese groan when they have to get into one of those...

Re: A Buddhist monk confronts Japan’s suicide culture (2013)

#84

Post by jobu »

thisjepisje wrote: post #56

[Suicide rates] go down in wartime and go up again afterward. Why would that be?

Suicidal people by definition have a low regard for their own lives, and are often in search of purpose or meaning. Enlisting to fight a war might be a solution to both. (I'm not an expert though, and the only evidence I have for this theory is knowing two fairly depressed people that enlisted during the recent Iraq war.)

Re: A Buddhist monk confronts Japan’s suicide culture (2013)

#85

Post by dragonwriter »

thisjepisje wrote: post #75
steveklabnik wrote: post #57

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm not a psychologist, so I won't comment on the _why_, but veterans have an extremely high suicide rate. http://www.va.gov/opa/pressrel/pressrelease.cfm?id=2427 (the PDF link has the data) > Of the 147,763 suicides reported in 21 states, 27,062 (18.3%) > were identified as having history of U.S. military service > on death certificates This article has some discussion on how this data is hard to collect: http://www…

That's interesting, but what's puzzling me the most is how less people commit suicide during a war.

> That's interesting, but what's puzzling me the most is how less people commit suicide during a war.

Just speculating, but, I can immediately see two obvious potential contributing factors to lower suicide statistics (one of which isn't actually about reduced incidence of suicide, per se): during a war, there's a lot more opportunity for suicide-that-doesn't-get-categorized-as-suicide, and there is also a additional opportunity (compared to peacetime) for things that provide short-term, immediate purpose even if they don't deal with the underlying problems.

Re: A Buddhist monk confronts Japan’s suicide culture (2013)

#86

Post by milesf »

bsaul wrote: post #5

Does anyone else here finds that there is disproportionnate amount of articles related to death, depression and mental illness that reaches the frontpage of HN ? I'm not saying it's necesseraly a bad thing, but it makes me wonder about the effects working in IT might have on mental health.

I've noticed the same trend. IT/tech workers are not known for their balanced work lives (eating healthy, exercise, not working too much).

Re: A Buddhist monk confronts Japan’s suicide culture (2013)

#87

Post by javert »

chaostheory wrote: post #79

When a candidate presents himself for training, he must prostrate himself and declare that he is willing to do anything that needs to be done to solve the great matter of life and death. By tradition, he is scowled at by the head monk, who orders him to leave. He persists, he continues to prostrate himself, and after two or three days he is taken in. Apprentice monks are treated like slaves on a brutal plantation. Th…

Maybe he just made it up. Maybe the monks got the idea from him.

Re: A Buddhist monk confronts Japan’s suicide culture (2013)

#88

Post by milesf »

I was suicidal for an extended period of time many years ago. Doctors weren't sure what was wrong. The hospital emergency ward gave me clonazepam and ativan, but that was only a band-aid, and didn't help long term.

Although I wanted to die, my fear of death and an eternity in the Lake of Fire was a far greater fear (Revelation 21:8). I'm not asking you to believe what I do. I'm just relaying what I went through, and the mindset I had at the time. As terrible as it was, that fear I had kept me alive.

Finally found a doctor who was able to diagnose what I had. Got treatment, suicidal thoughts went away, and am doing much better now.

I don't like to think back on that ordeal, but when I do meet people who are contemplating suicide, I absolutely can relate and empathize with the anguish they are experiencing.

Re: A Buddhist monk confronts Japan’s suicide culture (2013)

#89

Post by cristianpascu »

milesf wrote: post #88

I was suicidal for an extended period of time many years ago. Doctors weren't sure what was wrong. The hospital emergency ward gave me clonazepam and ativan, but that was only a band-aid, and didn't help long term. Although I wanted to die, my fear of death and an eternity in the Lake of Fire was a far greater fear (Revelation 21:8). I'm not asking you to believe what I do. I'm just relaying what I went through, and…

It's funny that we tell our children not to do things that will certainly have bad consequences for them, like putting their hand in fire. But still, there's mockery around after-life scenarios like we'd know something for certain. There's so much mystery around our existence, consciousness, suffering, that mocking precautions about after-life is incredibly foolish.

Re: A Buddhist monk confronts Japan’s suicide culture (2013)

#90

Post by Tyrant505 »

milesf wrote: post #88

I was suicidal for an extended period of time many years ago. Doctors weren't sure what was wrong. The hospital emergency ward gave me clonazepam and ativan, but that was only a band-aid, and didn't help long term. Although I wanted to die, my fear of death and an eternity in the Lake of Fire was a far greater fear (Revelation 21:8). I'm not asking you to believe what I do. I'm just relaying what I went through, and…

There is a difference between not wanting to live and wanting to kill yourself.
Post reply on HN