Choice Does Not Equal Autonomy

“Choice is not the same as autonomy. Choices (such as making the decision to die) are limited within a given context and environment. Since an individual’s choice is not separable from social limitations, this calls into question what we consider “individual” and “social”.

In Japan, historically, suicide is said to be seen as a moral action, the last place to practice one’s “free-will” in a generally conformist society. This portrayal of suicide falls short when the recent trend in the suicide rates of youth is introduced. Ethnographer Ozawa De-Silva argues that in contrast to the popular Japanese discourse that suicide is one way that individuals can demonstrate their autonomy in Japanese society, suicide pacts, negotiated online in suicide websites and discussion boards, seem to involve individuals giving up, or subordinating, their autonomy to a collective decision, a group choice. ¹In China, suicide rates are by global standards alarmingly high among certain demographic groups including young women aged 15-19. ² Although to a very different degree than Japan, suicide in China has been depicted in historical literature as a social or moral act. Something that has persisted from this approach to suicide is that the action of suicide is not considered primarily a psychologically pathological phenomenon but instead a response to social stress.The leading cause of death in Japan among people under the age of 30 at 27 suicides per 100,000 members of population. This means a total number of over 34,000 suicides per year as of 2005 when this data was taken.² This statistic is even more startling when you consider that there are 100-200 times more unsuccessful suicides which hypothetically raises this number into the millions.Specifically in Japanese and Chinese youth, the sudden rise in suicide rates among youth 15-19 correlates with the rise of the internet.¹ Within the youth age bracket of 15-19, gender also serves as a predictor of suicide rates. Females under the age of 19 in Japan had the biggest rise in suicides from 1998-1999 registering almost a 70% increase. The male sin this age group were not far behind with suicide rate increase of 50% increase in men 15-19. In both genders, the next age group at highest risk of suicide is the following age group age 20-29.¹

The public discourse of reason for suicide ranges from an economic discussion of the recent crisis in Japan and the lasting effects of China's economic down-spiral to a pattern of depression among those who are unemployed or concerned about the possibility of losing their financial security. The Japanese mass media and researchers attribute the spike in youth suicide rates to ijime – bullying - and the competitive examination system called jyuken jigoku [examination hell]. These claims are partially supported by research of suicide notes or conversations from people who commit suicide with messages like: “I am a failure because I did not make it into such and such University”, “I was afraid that I would fail the examination and I lost ikigai”, “I have been bullied by such-and-such person. They did this to me and therefore I am going to die” 

Ozawa De-Silva monitored website that bring youth thinking about suicide together and sometimes even lead to people meeting up and committing suicide together. Through this method of observation, De-Silva found some common themes in the conversations of youth who come to these sites and message boards in search of something they seem to lack. The most common themes such as "Not finding meaning in this world”, “bullying at school”, or  “Visiting the site after losing their job, their spouse, or their health”  correspond with the discourse being sent out by the older generations and the mass media. By analyzing these commonalities among China and Japan, and the spread of neoliberal reforms across East Asia, theories can be proposed as to why the youth of China and Japan are more likely to end their lives now than the generations that preceded them.^1,2

One middle-aged Japanese man weighs in on the topic by saying that “When Japan was poor, families did more things together out of necessity like sharing a bath or eating together, and the community was much more important, especially in rural communities. But now it’s increasingly all about the individual" 1 Ozawa De-Silva questions whether the pursuit of individualism is leading to an increased sense of loneliness and alienation and I agree with this and use the industrial precariat as an example. Neoliberal ideology is a Western trait introduced to Japan that dates back to the post-WWII era. The incorporation of the pursuit of the individual without the surrounding social structures that temper individualism present in the West such as religious association, practices of charity, etc that have not caught on has left Japan in a compromising situation as youth abandon traditional roles in pursuit of individual success and purpose.

One such theory for why youth are adversely at risk of suicide id that they occupy a liminal space socially, economically, and culturally with no clearly defined role or position of responsibility within the family and no
position within a larger network such as a company or educational system.This liminal space is also a place where purpose of life, ikigai, is unknown or unstable. This liminal space between childhood and adulthood provides significant freedoms for Japanese youth but it also gives youth a degree of uncertainty and isolation. As mentioned in earlier pages, this uncertainty can develop into anxiety and depression if this period is maintained for
too long. Taking into account cultural differences between countries in East Asia, my theory for why there has been a recent spike in the suicide rates of youth is that it’s the result of modernization’s promise of progress and wealth, and the corresponding gradual erosion of traditional social and familial networks. As East Asian countries experienced economic difficulties in the 1990s and into the 2000s, these promises were shattered. When you add the ability that the internet gave for youth who felt the consequences of the economic recession and the degradation of traditional roles in society to connect through suicide sites and message boards, you create a potent formula for suicide to become a reasonable action in sites of labor that include the home, the workplace, and the brutal educational system.

1.) Ozawa-de Silva, Chikako -  "Too lonely to die alone: Internet suicide pacts and existential suffering in Japan." Culture, Medicine, and Psychiatry 32.4 (2008): 516-551.

2.) Ji, Jianlin, Arthur Kleinman, and Anne E. Becker - "Suicide in contemporary China: a review of China's distinctive suicide demographics in their sociocultural context." Harvard Review of Psychiatry 9.1 (2001): 1-12.