Wednesday, August 16, 2006
Social Pressure or Personal Weakness?
I moved out of my home country, Japan in December 1994 as I got the job offer to work in New Zealnad. I had lived in beautiful Queenstown, New Zealand till early February 1997 and moved to sunny Gold Coast, Australia. I've been in this kind and open country since.
Even I don't live in Japan any more, I am still Japanese and my family still live there. I don't follow everything happens in Japan but the recent incidents around me made me think a lot about what is going on in Japan...
The husband of someone whom I know through my work killed himself after suffering from severe depression for 8-9 months. My younger sister is now dating with this lovely gentleman with two children who has ex-wife who has been suffering from depression and alcoholism. I got to know this 16 years old girl through my work, who now is suffering from depression.
"What is this?" I asked myself.
It must be not-unusual-thing to be suffering from depression in Japan if I personally could find three of them who suffering from it around me.
I was aware that Japanese children are under the huge pressure to do "better" in public eyes, which, I believe, started to cause problems among our teenagers.
I know that we do have a lot of stresses in Japan which have a lot to do with our own cultural/social rules. Traditionally, we were told to be patient in many situations instead of speaking up and standing up for ourselves. We even have the words "Tatemae" and "Hon-ne" meaning "how you act in front of people" and "what you really think", which brought me a lot of pain and confusion in my younger days and childhood.
I am wondering what really is going on in Japan. Why so many people are suffering mentally.
What is this all about? If you have any idea, please feel free to post your opinion here. I look forward to hearing from you all.
Even I don't live in Japan any more, I am still Japanese and my family still live there. I don't follow everything happens in Japan but the recent incidents around me made me think a lot about what is going on in Japan...
The husband of someone whom I know through my work killed himself after suffering from severe depression for 8-9 months. My younger sister is now dating with this lovely gentleman with two children who has ex-wife who has been suffering from depression and alcoholism. I got to know this 16 years old girl through my work, who now is suffering from depression.
"What is this?" I asked myself.
It must be not-unusual-thing to be suffering from depression in Japan if I personally could find three of them who suffering from it around me.
I was aware that Japanese children are under the huge pressure to do "better" in public eyes, which, I believe, started to cause problems among our teenagers.
I know that we do have a lot of stresses in Japan which have a lot to do with our own cultural/social rules. Traditionally, we were told to be patient in many situations instead of speaking up and standing up for ourselves. We even have the words "Tatemae" and "Hon-ne" meaning "how you act in front of people" and "what you really think", which brought me a lot of pain and confusion in my younger days and childhood.
I am wondering what really is going on in Japan. Why so many people are suffering mentally.
What is this all about? If you have any idea, please feel free to post your opinion here. I look forward to hearing from you all.
