Now that spring has dissolved into the sticky humidity of rainy season, now that go gatsu byo — "May sickness" — has melted away along with the memory of the cherry blossoms, perhaps it is time to wash away one of the most pervasive stereotypes of Japan, its dubious status as a "suicide nation."
Western media endlessly speculates and blames: Last year The Economist cited Japan's unforgiving society and "samurai traditions," while The Observer detailed Japan's "grim reputation" as a suicide nation while highlighting the trend of online suicide pacts. True, Japan's rates remain among the highest in the world for industrialized countries, yet, depression, ennui, hopelessness — all are universal emotions every human faces at one point or another. To assume Japanese people have a pronounced proclivity toward "jisatsu" neatly plays into several untrue stereotypes of Japanese culture.
One stereotype concerns samurai and seppuku. In recent history, the use of kamikaze pilots or nikudan (human bullets) cemented Japan's reputation for condoning suicide. Personal letters and testimonies left behind, however, prove that the pilots' sacrifice was not always voluntary and that they were certainly not the willing martyrs widely assumed.