Coming of American descent gives a person a very narrow idea of ​​what death means. For Americans, most if not all deaths are treated the same based on the individual's cultural background, which in the United States is predominantly white, middle class, and Christian or some variation thereof . Death is a painful part of life, something that must be avoided at all costs, while at the same time we know that it is inevitable. In other societies around the world, the idea of ​​death is very different from that of the United States. Beliefs around death are influenced by a range of variables such as religions, cultures and external factors. In Japan, fundamental beliefs around death have remained largely unchanged for hundreds of years. Like the vast majority of non-Westernized societies, Japan is less clinical about death than the United States. The body is often kept at home and cleaned just before or after death by family members. Funeral homes are unknown and ceremonies are organized and performed by the temple of the deceased. One of the few similarities between the two cultures is the eternal honor of the living towards the dead. The exception in their customs regarding mortality is death by suicide. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on “Why Violent Video Games Should Not Be Banned”? Get an original essay In the United States, death by suicide is condemned by many religions, and due to the stigma surrounding mental health, it is often not discussed at length. family or friends of the deceased. If the cause of death is suicide, sometimes the death is not mentioned in obituaries. Individuals in the United States commonly cite personal dissatisfaction or depression as the reason for their suicide and have done so throughout history. In Japan, seeing a loved one commit suicide is socially considered so damaging to the family's image that many people simply disappear to die on their own. This significantly complicates typical funeral rituals. In Japan, the reasons for suicide have changed throughout history, slowly becoming Westernized, and fewer people specifically cite honor, more often turning to the Western explanation that existence is pointless. While suicide in the United States has had a stagnant history, with shame a constant factor in it all, its history in Japan is much more complicated, deeply entangled in sociocultural norms and confusing religious ties. an important question since the feudal era, mainly in the samurai class because it is irremediably linked to the code of bushido. The samurai class was a lower middle class of recruited soldiers, the majority of whom followed the code of bushido. The heart of this code was honor and paying for any infraction of this value with the life of the individual. In the past, suicide was used to atone for mistakes or infractions to the honor of the lord under whom the individual worked. This ritual, called seppuku, involved disemboweling oneself with a short blade called a tanto. Often, seppuku was conducted publicly with several spectators present to watch and assist with other ritual rites of the ceremony. Although this ritual suicide is less common than many Western societies portray it in pop culture and cinema, the practice continued to be carried out longer than many think, even during World War II as a derivative of the ritual original. As part of the rituals and traditions of feudal times, suicidewas usually ordered by the lord under whom the samurai worked. As time passed and the samurai class faded, seppuku became a self-imposed atonement for a crime against morality that would bring shame to an individual, their family, or Japan as a country. An example of seppuku during World War II occurred after the Battle of Okinawa: once it became clear that the Japanese forces had been defeated, General Mitsuru Ushijima performed seppuku to make up for his failure ( BBC, 2014). Although an occasional amount of ritual seppuku continued during World War II, the use of kamikaze pilots replaced trends of the last century. Kamikaze, which translates to “divine wind,” were aerial attacks carried out by planes filled with explosives. The pilot would deliberately crash into allied ships or targets, killing himself, but with the intention of causing greater destruction and neutralizing effects than a conventional attack could do to the other side. The call for kamikaze pilots received a stunning response, with the Imperial Japanese Army receiving three times as many applicants as it had aircraft available. The majority of pilots were university students in their twenties, motivated by an obligation to serve their nation and the Emperor. Survivor Tadamatsu Itatsu claimed that he and the other young volunteers were not crazy and enjoyed the idea of ​​dying, but rather believed that their actions were necessary to protect mainland Japan from an Allied invasion, and that dying for this cause would be the most honorable. sacrifice. On the eve of the Japanese surrender, on August 16, 1945, Admiral Takijiro Onishi, nicknamed "the father of kamikaze", committed suicide, leaving a note of apology to his deceased pilots, their sacrifice having been in vain. Volunteer suicide bombers who survived the war, like Itatsu, struggled with suicidal thoughts through other methods, overwhelmed by survivor's guilt and the desire to die with their fallen fellow pilots (BBC, 2014). Today, kamikaze pilots remain one of the most iconic and notorious symbols of Axis Japan, representing fierce obedience to their emperor and their unwavering resolve to defend their homeland. Another suicide trend in Japan during World War II was the mass suicides of the two men. civilians and military in response to the threat. During the Battle of Saipan, a small island under Japanese rule, a warning given by the Japanese government led to the mass suicide of many civilians on the island. Although there is some controversy, the general consensus seems to be that the government's warning to citizens promised them equal spiritual status in the afterlife as those who died in combat if they committed suicide before being killed or captured by the Americans. troops. The underlying psychology here is still suicide for the honor of the country, just as seppuku was suicide for the honor of the individual's leader. Reports indicate that grenades were distributed to help civilians commit mass suicide, and that those who survived the grenades usually found another method or means to die in order to achieve the same honor status as their peers. Looking back over the next fifty years, suicide trends in Japan have not changed in number, but rather in method and style. In the early 2000s, rumors began circulating in the United States about "Japanese suicide cults," explaining several suicides that appeared to occur in groups or as a result of pacts. These were generally groups of two to six young people, between adolescence andin their thirties, found dead by carbon dioxide poisoning, overdose or a similar method. Many of these groups are formed through online meetups or discussion forums, which allow people to pool resources and/or ideas. These suicides often have a strong thematic coherence, as they often rely on a non-violent method, involve coming together for the act, and traveling to a secluded location to carry out the act. This represents a huge improvement over the mass ritual suicides of the past, which were public and horrific. Suicides in the past were motivated by cultural traditions, whereas today they are influenced by Western individualistic ideals of personal dissatisfaction rather than family dishonor. An increasingly common location for suicide since Japan's 2008 financial crisis is the Aokigahara Forest, at the foot of the forest. of Mount Fuji. The forest lends itself to this phenomenon for several reasons: its central position in Japan, it offers a similar pilgrimage for all places, its density which creates a fairy tale labyrinth in which it is easy to find solitude and silence to accomplish the act, and its historical significance in folklore and religion, which believed that the forest is home to many spirits and demons. Statistically, this forest is the Japanese version of the Golden Gate Bridge found in San Francisco, California, United States. It has the highest number of suicides per year of any other place in Japan. Despite its popularity as an endangered place in much of Japan, locals rarely visit the forest for any purpose other than hiking. Many residents of the Mount Fuji region instead choose to commit suicide by jumping in front of trains. One train line in particular has more suicides than any other in Japan due to its express trains and low maintenance costs. Indeed, if a person dies after being hit by a train in Japan, the surviving family must pay for the maintenance necessary to return the line to its normal schedule. Another scenic spot in Japan, known for both sightseeing and suicide attempts, is the Tojinbo Cliffs in Fukui Prefecture. The cliffs remained a popular location for suicide attempts until local fishermen began to complain about having to fish bodies out of the sea. In response, the government organized a group of volunteers who patrol the cliffs every day, looking for these people. with the intention of jumping. The story of a retired police officer, Yukio Shige, who acts as a volunteer for this mission, became a global news sensation and became a local hero. It is estimated that Shige has saved 500 lives in the past by walking the cliffs with a pair of binoculars, talking to desperate people and offering them resources to improve their lives (Calderwood, 2015). Although Tojinbo Cliff is still famous as a suicide destination, the local government has made arrangements and established a monitoring force to reduce the death rates. These days, suicide statistics are often explained by demographics. Most suicides by locality in Japan are collective around rural areas and elderly areas. These are places where people cannot support themselves with the means available. This trend is more recent, however, following the financial crisis of 2008 and the earthquake of 2011. The highest number of suicides involved middle-aged, working-class adults. Unlike current demographics, this trend may be linked tothe more traditional ideology of suicide to defend honor. Businessmen who faced failure during an economic crisis often cited the honor of their name and surname as the reasons for their suicide, as well as reducing the long-term cost for their family. This trend has been compounded by the fact that the majority of adults belong to Japan's "lost generation", a generation not unlike America's Generation parents damaged by war or absent, creating what is known as Japan as a generation of children. Many cite this as a reason for the increase in suicide after World War II. Due to the economic struggle and social tensions following World War II, many members of this generation have few essential skills, or even employable skills. This leads many people to live adrift, who don't really cook for themselves and perhaps don't have a steady job, but instead earn money by working on a daily basis. Even though many of these people have attended good schools or colleges, the work culture in Japan does not allow for much in the way of retirement and almost all people of working age in the country do so. For those who cannot find work, there is immense social stigma from family and friends, which can exacerbate existing mental health issues. The influence of religion is another cultural factor that plays a role in Japan's staggering suicide rate. While major world religions such as Christianity, Judaism and Islam have passages that prohibit suicide, this is not the case for Shintoism and Buddhism, the two main religions of Japan. In Shinto belief, their representation of the afterlife is that once a person dies, their spirit, or kami, will go to another world where spirits reside. It's neither a good nor a bad place, so it's almost like limbo, but their spirits can return to those who perform the rituals correctly. Unlike the aforementioned major religions which prohibit suicide and claim that it would prevent entry into the afterlife, Shintoism is not an exception to suicide. Some view Shinto as rather ambivalent toward suicide, to the extent that even ritual suicides are tolerated. However, others argue that Shinto discourages suicide, although it is not an act of condemnation, because life is given by ancestors and by nature and therefore should not be wasted or neglected. end abnormally (Kaneko, 2014). In Buddhism, suicide is not a widely discussed or debated topic. In one story of the Buddha, before attaining enlightenment, he had practiced extreme suffering with the five ascetics after discovering the existence of old age, illness and death after sneaking out of his palace as a young teenage prince. However, he freed himself from his negative contemplations and began seeking enlightenment after realizing that he did not need to deprive himself of life to find happiness. This tale is one of the only references to suicide in Buddhist theology. As for how suicide affects the Buddhist afterlife, Buddhists believe in reincarnation and many believe that suicide could lead to an unfavorable rebirth (January 2017) due to how they treated their life in the previous life. Ultimately, the lack of a religious prohibition on suicide is believed to lead to the nation's ambivalence toward the act. One of the positive sides of this.