More Holistic Explanation
The Internet Suicide is largely related to Japanese’s view of suicide and view of death. These are generated by the socialization. Therefore the explanation should be based on Japan’s history, culture, religion, Performance of Notables and mass media as they are the important elements of socialization.
(1)History:
Suicide is very common in Japan’s history. Hara-kiri and Shinjyuu are two most popular way of suicide. Hara-kiri is a kind of suicide for the samurai (warriors) use only and is a social class bound privilege. They use it to prevent them from divulging information and being killed by the enemy. Shinjyu is for common people use and is the form of suicide among intimate persons such as mother-son, brother-brother or even the whole family. (Ueno, 2005) From viewing the classification of suicide by different social class, it implies that suicide was in vogue in the old Japan. Therefore from past to now, Japanese are not strange to suicide.
(2)Culture:
As mention before, Japan is defined as a shame culture society. (Benedict, 1946) And it even put it on an extreme level with zero tolerance. That means, in Japan, failure is never an option. That’s why Japanese are so scary when their scandal is uncovered. If it really happens, apology is prior to explanation. Fukushima Daiichi nuclear disaster is one of its examples. Every time when the CEO came out, bowing and apologizing profusely were what they do first. Another example is that remorseful defendant will usually fare better in Japanese court than one explaining why they should not be considered guilty based on their state of mind, beliefs, emotions, or whatever. Compare to guilt culture, outside punishment can compensate the guilt feeling. However, in shame culture, shame feeling can only be compensated by apologies and it is hard for the sinner to eliminate or withstand other’s feeling of repugnance.(Taguchi, 2000) In order to get rid of the shame feeling, suicide is the sinner’s final choose.
(3)Religion:
Most Japanese belief in a syncretic religion which is the fusion of Buddhism and Shinto. (Wiki, 2012) These two religions’ dogmas have largely affected Japanese view of death. For Buddhism, it tells the believers that they have a chance to go through the reincarnation. That mean you will reborn after dead. (Wiki, 2012) For Shinto, it states that everything has its own spirit. And everyone will release their soul into the spirit world after dead and become a kami (Spirit). (Wiki, 2012) Therefore the Japan’s religions have no prohibitions against suicide and give an ideal world after dead. These dogmas are different from the Western major religions which tell their believers respect to their lives.
(4)Performance of Notables:
Something good should be ended in a beautiful way. Suicide is portrayed in Japan culture as a noble and pure gesture and definitely is a beautiful way. (Quietness, 2009) Japanese always have an expectation that some famous actors and authors will commit suicide to give a perfect full stop to their legendary life. Correspondingly, when some famous authors thinking they cannot get a higher achievement than before, they will also tend to commit suicide. It is the satisfaction of reaching the pinnacle and being eager in sad and beauty. For example, a very famous author in Japan, Yasunari Kawabata , who got a lot of award such as Nobel Prize for Literature in 1968. He committed suicide in his office in 1972. (Wiki, 2012) Japanese have an anniversary date to commemorate his contribution to literature. Even he committed suicide, in Japanese’ eye, he was deserved to be respected.
(5)Mass Media:
In order to gain higher broadcast popularity, every time when a group suicide is discovered, it soon becomes a headline of the news reports and newspaper. Beside the objective information report, it always comes with a large amount of follow-up stories. It quickly becomes a fashion for people to talk about and imitate. For example, another group suicide occurred in February 2003 by using same way in the news report. In March 2003, a few more group suicides were discovered which were the copies of the last one. (Ueno, 2005) This example shows how powerful is the mass media to influence the suicide candidates to choose the way of suicide.
(6)Outcome Expression:
The above five social factors affect Japanese’ view of suicide and death. The below events can reveals how strong it is and how unique it is.
On Japan’s Internet, suicide is no more a taboo. There are thousands of suicide web sites in Japan. (Harding, 2005) In Japanese’ view, suicide is still a controversial issue but it can be freely discussed. People not just talk about it but also try to find someone to die with. Thanks for the convenience of Internet, suicide candidates can easily find their “group mate”. Thousands of web sites need millions of people to support. The amount of web site can clearly show that there is a lot of people are interested in suicide.
In 1993, there is a book. A book should be banned forever. It is the “THE COMPLETE SUICIDE MANUAL”. This book introduces different kind of suicide methods and their pros and cons. It talks about how you can make the tools by household items. It talks about which method is the quietest and less influence to your neighbors. It talks about the painfulness of different methods. It talks about the popularity of the places of committing suicide. (TSURUMI, 1993) It looks horrible but it sells a million of copies in Japan. It implies that there is a lot of Japanese are interested and prepare for suicide even they know that they will not do that, ever.
The suicide club, a 2002 Japanese independent horror film, describes the students how to have fun with suicide. One part of the movie, 50 girls killing themselves by jumping onto the rail while laughing, smiling, and chatting with each other as if they were just going to a concert. The other part, a student tries to jump down the building in order to grasp other students’ attention. Terrible things associate with comfortable music; it will send shivers down your spine! The movie not really want to tell you that Japanese try to have fun with suicide but to show the attitude of Japanese toward suicide. It claims that Japanese commit suicide for something not so important, at least, not so important to our eyes.
(7)Aims:
As being one of the countries having many natural disasters such as tsunami and earthquake. Japanese accepted this destiny in terms of fatalistic relations of came and effect, rather than appealing to the supernatural for special favors. (Kishmoto, 1954) Fatalism is rooted in Japanese’ mind. In order to change their destiny, suicide is an option because they will get a new life base on the dogmas of Buddhism and Shinto. And whatever you are good or bad before dead, the chance to reborn is equal. Therefore suicide is a way to compensate the guilt. For example, a graduate kill himself after an unsuccessful job interview. (Yamaguchi, 2011) The failure of the job searching is the indicator to bad destiny and makes the graduate feel hopeless to the future. It also makes the graduate feel shame as he cannot be satisfactory for intimate members’ expectation of being a graduate. Suicide not just can compensate the shame and change the destiny but also can repay the obligation.
(8)Relation to Internet Group Suicide:
From the analysis of the social factors of Japan, this uniqueness attribute to the higher tendency for Japanese to commit suicide. However, we are all human and sharing the same fear to death. Group Suicide can give more courage to suicide candidates and reduce the loneliness and overcome the fear. (Batra, 2005)
Conclusion
History and religion factors make Japanese have no sense to refuse the topic of suicide. The shame culture and ideology factor give Japanese the tendency of suicide. Hara-kiri and notables give an image of suicide with glory and beauty. The mass media report Group Suicide cases in an entertained way make Group Suicide become a hot topic among people. The advanced Internet provides a pathway for suicide candidate to find “group mate”. These factors produce perfect conditions to give rise to Internet Group Suicide. (1911 words)
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