Monday May 28, 2012

JAPAN NEWS AND DISCUSSION

China's suicide rate among highest in world

World Sep. 09, 2011 - 04:43AM JST ( 13 )

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13 Comments

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realmindSep. 09, 2011 - 08:34AM JST

Suicide? or killed by the govt for demanding more freedom???
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DentShopSep. 09, 2011 - 10:56AM JST

China has an unenviable statistic that it is one of the few countries where more women commit suicide than men.
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VirtuosoSep. 09, 2011 - 11:54AM JST

DentShop, thanks for pointing this out. You are indeed correct and the AFP article was incomplete without making this important gender distinction.
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some14someSep. 09, 2011 - 12:59PM JST

Here also China beats Japan :(
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NovenachamaSep. 09, 2011 - 03:19PM JST

It really is sad but as human beings we all experience feelings of loneliness, depression, helplessness, and hopelessness from time to time. The common link among people that kill themselves is the belief that suicide is the only solution to a set of overwhelming feelings and I speak from my own experience. Because each person's emotional makeup is unique, each of us responds to situations differently. What may seem of minor importance to someone else and an event that may be insignificant to you can be extremely distressful to another. Therefore it is imperative that the crisis be evaluated from that person's perspective. Your openness and concern in asking about suicide will always allow the person experiencing the pain to talk about the problem. Thus it's important to remain calm, deal with the suicide topic, and encourage problem solving and positive action because all these things will help reduce anxiety. Last of all get assistance by arranging help beyond that which you can offer and remember suicide is a public health issue that happens to all groups of people.
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Lieberman2012Sep. 09, 2011 - 04:57PM JST

And the suicide rate is only going to get higher. Ask someone like 'justaguy'. He will tell you. Life in China sucks.
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illsayitSep. 09, 2011 - 05:22PM JST

The women being higher, wouldnt have anything to do with the one child policy. Do you think?

And actually this is the one point where I would start pointing fingers at Japan and their attitude about how they think they have better ideals for raising children. Like the many cases of child abduction, the history also points to a certain Japanese authoritarian style of parenting within China when there was a lot more Japanese in China and relations were on the better side of things-before warring times(cant exactly remember dates off the top of my head now). Before China had a one child policy anyhow. To me it seems there was a drive for perfection and between the 2 countries one thing led to another in competition like standards of education and it is where it is today. Japan HAS to back down on this attitude. I personally see it everywhere in Japan-in whichever religion, in whatever economic status-and news regarding the child abductions only highlights it more for me. China has to take a step regarding their one child policy-for their women; look at them suicide rates. How sad. But in the region, Japan has to stop the authoritarian, police-like minded standards of parenting. It doesnt help when a lot of the influential western foreigners in Japan are the same, I might add. Things as simple as seatbelts highlight it for you? They do for me.

There is a lot that can be shared, but as it is such a sensitive topic, well it would seem that suicide is preferrable to talking about it at times. How very very sad. This region has the potential to stimulate markets, not just because of their genius, but through their giving to the world in population and market demand; it is a shame both countries cant realize this.
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lostrune2Sep. 09, 2011 - 05:48PM JST

Isn't the Chinese government trying to reduce its population rate?

Why do so many people want to leave China one way or another.......
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HNLBillSep. 09, 2011 - 09:59PM JST

*To Lieberman2012Sep. 09, 2011 - 04:57PM JST

And the suicide rate is only going to get higher. Ask someone like 'justaguy'. He will tell you. Life in China suck*

I guess life in Japan sucks even more because the suicide rate in Japan is 24.4 per 100,000 vs China's 22.23 per 100,000. Life in rapid growth China is tough and high suicide rate is reasonable. It has a lot less to do with personal freedom but rather more to do with difficulties experienced by the masses at a time when there are fundamental changes in the economy, very much like Japan is experiencing right now. However for Japan, it will be getting even worse until it cannot be worse any more. Japan has a shrinking economy and will continue to do so as its population is dying out with fewer people supporting the 4xGDP debt loads of the national and local governments. It will not be long for Japan to kowtow to China for economic survival as their American master can no longer afford to support their pet dog any more.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/03/04/japan-suicide-rate-still-n831430.html
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TheQuestionSep. 09, 2011 - 11:05PM JST

Life in rapid growth China is tough and high suicide rate is reasonable.

How is government enforced stress by any stretch of the imagination reasonable? Brazil is also a rapidly expanding economy but you don't see them offing themselves by the thousand.

Look at the list of nations by their suicide rates and you'll find at least one very stiking similarity. The nations with the highest suicide rates are those that exert the most control over their population either through explicit application of force like Russia or China or through implicit requirements like South Korea or Japan.

Some of these countries really have to take a chill pill, and I don't mean xanax.

It will not be long for Japan to kowtow to China for economic survival as their American master can no longer afford to support their pet dog any more.

Doubtful, if you're not a massive consumer China has little interest. Plus the long term economic models get a little bit sketchy for china. The only thing they have going for them is cheap labor, if Chinese workers get it into their head that they should have better pay, working conditions, or the right to be treated like actual human beings the labor competitivness goes out the window real quick.

Nobody really knows what the world is going to look like in 20 years...hopefully some of will still be around to find out.
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HNLBillSep. 10, 2011 - 02:02AM JST

To TheQuestion:

Brazil is also a rapidly expanding economy but you don't see them offing themselves by the thousand.

While the economy of Brazil was expanding fast for the past 30 years, it was nowhere close to the drastic growth experienced in China. China on average was growing at 10% per year continuously for the past 30 years which caused major social and economic upheavals in the country that no other country in the world experienced. Brazil on the other hand experienced growth only at the rate of half of China's and it was happening only in the past 10 years or so. http://www.indexmundi.com/g/g.aspx?c=br&v=66. Also, I think the happy go lucky attitude of the Brazilian will always keep their suicide rate low even despite economic hardship. The interesting point is if the Brazilian was not killing themselves enough in the past, they were successful in killing others in their midst by violent means as reported in this article http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1414700/.

The sad situation in China was that Chinese female has the higher suicide rate than the male and the rural suicide rate is significantly higher than the urban rate. That was the reason why I believed the rapid economic growth has definitely caused a greater impact to the cultural and social fabrics in Chinese lives.

While I do not agree with your second point on the uncertainty of Chinese economic growth but I respect your opinion. No matter how our opinions differ though, the Japanese economy will definitely continue to go downhill as its population shrinks and its government fails to tackle its debt issue.
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sfjp330Sep. 10, 2011 - 02:39AM JST

HNLBillSep. 09, 2011 - 09:59PM JST. I guess life in Japan sucks even more because the suicide rate in Japan is 24.4 per 100,000 vs China's 22.23 per 100,000.

Japan suicide rate in the cities might be twice as bad as China. 75 percent of the suicides in China is in rural area that are less educated and poor that are deperate and there is no solution in sight. There is hardly any mediation and clinics for mental illness or depression are nowhere to be found. You just have to deal with it until you die. The metropolitan areas of China is actually alot lower due to job opportunities and better wages. With more money, they have more facilities that can take care of mental illness problems.
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illsayitSep. 10, 2011 - 06:40AM JST

I could be reading everybodies english wrong; but between my last comment and this one, all that seems to be said is-increasing population and declining population. Make up your minds! Which is it? Suicide or life. And forget the babble about urban and country; or facilities or not; or govt control or not-youre not making any sense. Youre just tossing hypotheticals out as if they are true. Once again I pose the question-suicide or life?