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MENTAL HEALTH CHALLENGES FACING CONTEMPORARY JAPANESE SOCIETY the “LONELY PEOPLE” by Yuko Kawanishi

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MENTAL HEALTH CHALLENGES FACING CONTEMPORARY JAPANESE SOCIETY the “LONELY PEOPLE” by Yuko Kawanishi 2831_FM.qxp 6/4/09 1:26 PM Page i 1 2 3 MENTAL HEALTH CHALLENGES 4 FACING CONTEMPORARY JAPANESE SOCIETY 5 THE “LONELY PEOPLE” 6 7 8 9 1 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 2 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 3 1 2 3 4 5 3 3 3 3 4 4 4 2831_FM.qxp 6/4/09 1:26 PM Page ii x 0 0 0 6 7 8 9 0 1 2 2831_FM.qxp 6/4/09 1:26 PM Page iii 1 2 3 4 Mental Health Challenges 5 6 Facing Contemporary 7 8 Japanese Society 9 THE “LONELY PEOPLE” 1 1 2 3 4 5 6 by 7 8 Yuko Kawanishi 9 2 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 3 1 2 3 4 5 3 3 3 3 4 4 4 2831_FM.qxp 6/4/09 1:26 PM Page iv x MENTAL HEALTH CHALLENGES FACING CONTEMPORARY JAPANESE SOCIETY THE “LONELY PEOPLE” by Yuko Kawanishi First published 2009 by GLOBAL ORIENTAL LTD PO Box 219 0 Folkestone Kent CT20 2WP UK www.globaloriental.co.uk © Yuko Kawanishi 2009 ISBN 978-1-906876-00-5 All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any 0 electronic, mechanical or other means, now known or hereafter invented, including photocopying and recording, or in any information storage or retrieval system, without prior permission in writing from the publishers. British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data A CIP catalogue entry for this book is available from the British Library 0 6 7 8 9 Set in Garamond 11 on 12.5pt by IDSUK (DataConnection) Ltd 0 Printed and bound in England by Antony Rowe Ltd., Chippenham, Wilts 1 2 2831_FM.qxp 6/5/09 3:11 AM Page v 1 2 3 4 5 Contents 6 7 8 9 1 1 Preface vii 2 Acknowledgements x 3 Introduction xii 4 5 1 The “National Character” 1 6 I The National Psyche, Revisited 1 7 I Defining Deviance 6 8 I The Same, But Not the Same 7 9 I Habits of the Heart 14 2 I Different Times and Different Evaluations. 1 Confrontation and Denial? 16 2 3 2 Mental Health at Work 24 4 I What Are the Signs? 24 5 I The Way Japan Was 26 6 I Changes Happening Now 29 7 I Suicide and the Japanese 33 8 I The Men Who Cannot Say “No” 36 9 I Karoshi: Still a Form of Suicide 38 3 I Factors Specific to the Japanese Workplace 44 1 I Factors Specific to Japanese Society 47 2 I Factors Specific to Japanese Psychology 51 3 I Japan’s Response as a Society 55 4 5 3 The Japanese Family Today 61 3 I Skeletons Out in the Open? 61 3 I The Japanese Family and Its Cultural Traditions 65 3 I The Contemporary Family: An Efficient 3 Arrangement for Great Economic Growth 68 4 4 v 4 2831_FM.qxp 6/4/09 1:26 PM Page vi Contents x I Unteaching the Ie System 73 I The Matriarchal Tradition 75 I Costs and Consequences: Too Much Love Can Kill You 77 I Mystery Dads: Strangers at Home 81 I What Do Sexless Marriages Tell Us About Men and Women in Japan? 82 I Why Not Divorce? 88 0 I Is Japanese Marriage at a Crossroads? 92 4 Youth 98 I Disturbing Signs 100 I The Over-affluent Society 104 I School Environment 106 I Home Environment 107 I School Refusal: Psychologically-based Absenteeism 110 I Domestic Violence: A Japanese Case 113 I Hikikomori: The Hermit Children of Japan 115 0 I Parasite Singles. Who Are They? 123 I Social Structural Changes Japan Is Going Through. What Do They Mean to the Next Generation? 128 5 Japan’s “Lonely People” 137 I Have We Reached a Tipping Point? 140 I Approaching Mental Health from a Professional Perspective 146 I Stigma and Shame: Barriers to Better Treatment 152 I What Individuals Need to Do 157 0 Bibliography 162 Index 170 6 7 8 9 0 1 2 vi 2831_FM.qxp 6/4/09 1:26 PM Page vii 1 2 3 4 5 Preface 6 7 8 9 1 1 This book sets out to provide an analytical, critical, account of the men- 2 tal health of the Japanese today. It attempts to elucidate what is happen- 3 ing to the Japanese psyche, and the causes. It aims to go into greater 4 depth about the phenomenon than everyday journalistic description has 5 been capable of hitherto. Therefore, I begin by describing the mental 6 health challenges facing contemporary Japanese society, focusing on 7 three areas: work relations, family relations, and Japan’s youth. 8 Secondly, in each chapter, I endeavor to analyze the social, psychologi- 9 cal, and cultural background of the problems existing in these areas, and 2 to see how effectively (or ineffectively) Japan as a society is dealing with 1 them. Thirdly, I offer some suggestions as to what Japan can do to 2 survive and overcome these issues. 3 4 However, this is not to suggest that Japan is the only society with these 5 problems. Non-Japanese readers may feel that similar problems exist in 6 their own countries. It is always easy to trivialize social issues as something 7 unique to a particular country, a tendency we all have at times. My objec- 8 tive here is to define certain social and psychological problems facing 9 human beings in a society where both traditional and new cultures, ide- 3 ologies, and ways of thinking have had to find room for each other in 1 order to coexist in a relatively short time. The sources I have drawn on 2 include existing literature on the issues, newspapers, TV, magazines, gov- 3 ernment publications, and discussions in the classroom with students 4 from all over the world, personal friends from Japan and abroad, particu- 5 larly those who work in the frontline of clinical support, and my own 3 experiences as someone who has lived across cultures for several decades 3 (mainly the United States and Japan). The approach of these inves- 3 tigations is basically eclectic, and is not bound by any one particular 3 theoretical perspective. The analyses are sociological and/or psychological, 4 4 vii 4 2831_FM.qxp 6/4/09 1:26 PM Page viii Preface x sometimes historical and there are occasions when I borrow some psychi- atric viewpoints. Whatever framework considered useful has been applied, and whatever lens that enables us to accurately observe the events has been used. In social scientific inquiries, analysis of phenomena has often been based on two conflicting perspectives. One attributes causes primarily to social 0 structural factors; the other attributes causes to historical and cultural factors. A social structural explanation implicitly suggests political, eco- nomic, institutional, and physical environments that are transferred to a different setting can be expected to produce the same phenomena as that in the original milieu. A cultural explanation emphasizes the irreplace- able, deep-rooted influence of religious beliefs, thoughts, socialization patterns, and members’ innate outlooks on life. The cultural explanation suggests these elements are more instrumental in creating the situation under examination. If one adopts a social structural perspective, critics counter that cultural elements are ignored. If one emphasizes the impor- 0 tance of culture, one is “guilty of cultural determinism.” The fact of the matter, however, is that both perspectives are equally important in comprehending the background of the phenomena. After all, most social institutions are brought about and sustained by cultural conditions, and a newly-constructed social institution can create new cultural beliefs and traditions. Culture and social structure are not mutually exclusive. Instead, they are cyclical in nature, one creating the other, which then returns the compliment. What is important is not to claim one is more powerful than the other, but to keep a sense of balance. Stereotyping instantly earns social scientists a bad name. All social 0 scientists are extremely sensitive to being accused of making stereotypi- cal observations, especially about people of different cultures. However, stereotyping is rarely in itself total falsification, though it is often tainted with various forms of prejudice. The oversimplification and exaggeration of an existing trait should be avoided, but social scientists also should not forget where the central idea originated. Any description of the traits of 6 a certain group is based on an implicit comparison with another group. 7 Just as we learn or say something about ourselves only when we have a 8 chance to examine others, whatever we perceive is intrinsically compara- 9 tive. The question is: what is or who is being compared? 0 Cultural analysts nowadays are caught in a Catch 22 situation: if one 1 2 viii 2831_FM.qxp 6/4/09 1:26 PM Page ix Preface 1 2 makes a generalization, one is immediately criticized for missing another 3 contrasting theoretical dimension, or resorting to the cultural stereotypes 4 that characterized early Nihonjinron literature. If one avoids that criti- 5 cism, one might be cited for resorting to an essentialist approach. And of 6 course, the more sensitive one is to these charges, the more one finds it 7 utterly impossible to express any observations. 8 In this book I am not imposing a theoretical framework, nor am I 9 interested in creating a new formula that can explain what is going on 1 in Japan. Social reality is far too complex, multidimensional and illusive 1 to be framed in sets of theories.
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