I debated about writing on this topic for a while but it has been part of my stay in japan and something I intimately experienced.
At the mid year conference a man had jumped from the third floor in my hotel and my friend and I had found him after exiting the elevator. I am not certain if he died (though I searched the newspapers and watched the news) but the amount of blood and lack of any movement would suggest he did. It shocked me how many of the Japanese people who walked by took a quick look and then hurried along their way as though it was an everyday occurrence and this man's life wasn't noteworthy.
Suicide is view much differently in Japan than in the west. I think this view probably began with the tradition of seppuku or as the west likes to call it harikari.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SeppukuSeppuku (切腹?, "stomach-cutting") is a form of Japanese ritual suicide by disembowelment. Seppuku was originally reserved only for samurai. Part of the samurai honor code, seppuku was used voluntarily by samurai to die with honor rather than fall into the hands of their enemies, as a form of capital punishment for samurai who have committed serious offenses, and for reasons that shamed them. Seppuku is performed by plunging a sword into the abdomen and moving the sword left to right in a slicing motion. The practice of committing seppukuat the death of one's master, known as oibara (追腹 or 追い腹, ) or tsuifuku (追腹, ), follows a similar ritual.
This form of suicide is seen as noble and many of those who committed this act are revered to this day. I admit to admiring the stories of the
Fourty-Seven Ronin
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Forty-seven_RoninThe story tells of a group of samurai who were left leaderless (became
ronin) after their daimyo (feudal lord) was forced to commit seppuku for assaulting a court official named Kira Yoshinaka. The ronin avenged their master's honor after patiently waiting and planning for over a year to kill Kira. In turn, the ronin were themselves forced to commit seppuku — as they had known they would be — for committing the crime of murder.
or the Byakkotai
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ByakkotaiTwenty of the members of the Byakkotai, cut off from the rest of their unit in the wake of the
Battle of Tonoguchihara, retreated to Iimori Hill, which overlooked the castle town. From there, they saw what they thought was the castle on fire, and committed seppuku (with one failed attempt) in desperation, believing their lord and families dead. However these 20 Byakkotai members were mistaken in their assessment of defeat, as the castle defenses had not actually been breached; the castle town surrounding the inner citadel was aflame. As the majority of the town was between Iimori Hill and the castle, the boys saw the rising smoke and assumed that the castle itself had fallen.
Japan has one of the highest suicide rates in the world but the suicides in Japan are not typically committed by people who are depressed and want out of life but people who have cause mistakes or are so stressed they are willing to take their lives before being a disgrace. Many ninth grade students are known to take their lives before or after their high school entrance examinations and as such their classrooms are on the second floor of the school rather than the third. Within a month you will hear of several cases of CEOs or people in positions of power committing suicide because their companies have not performed well, they were caught in scandal, or some sort of mistake was made that had public repercussions.
Though I don't want to get into an anthropological discussion here many scholar say that Japan is known as a shame culture and shame and ostracisim rather than guilt is the process that controls their lives. I haven't done a study into this topic but it does seem to fit with the reasoning for many suicides.
I can't help but wonder for what reason did that man die?
Learned that giving the peace sign upwards is a way of say f you in England so Courtney and I are give the non-profane version!
Tried some funky colour contacts out but caused my one eye to swell up.
Marshall has become a good bud as well and probably more addicted to snowboarding than I. He is planning on taking a week off to snowboard!
This apparently is Naomi's frog face, which means she is trying to be sad?
everybody likes the curry!
I debated about writing on this topic for a while but it has been part of my stay in japan and something I intimately experienced.
Went izakaya exploring Saturday night and found a dingy one that suited our tastes. Zao is famous for konyaku but the rubbery texture just turns me off. The rest enjoyed their rubbery balls though.
The hair station.
Me in the prefectural newspaper!
Do I look like a fox or just angry?
Once people realized I was not Japanese I heard "Gajin-san, Gajin-san" and they all wanted a picture. It almost scares me to think of how many Japanese people have pictures of me from my two years here so far. I even took a picture with someone's dog!
Video from the procession.
The shrine was covered in beautiful woodwork carving- this is the native dragon elephant!
Inside it also had many interesting older paintings. I'm not a huge fan of Japanese traditional style but I enjoyed these paintings and they livened up the dark interior.
The shrine is on the bank of a river and affords a stunning view.
This the mascot of Fukushima and if you can believe it, is a cow. Not only is it a black and red cow but it is a bobble head black and red cow. The first thing I though of was the bright red Swedish horses though I think it looks more like a pig.
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