Women in Japan are losing their already uphill battle to live, work and to achieve happiness.
It’s been 10 years since I left Tokyo…
Few weeks ago, I was catching up with my friend Toshiyuki Kimura, who is the owner of Loophole Gallery and a famous VFX Matte Painter in Tokyo. He told me that women in Japan are facing dire reality that has him even more concerned than the intense Covid related problems and 83% public dissatisfaction with the Tokyo Olympics.
I want many people to watch this documentary piece “Japan Is Facing an Alarming Spike in Female Suicides” from VICE News. What is depicted in the report is sadly true. I can say it with confidence because I lived there and experienced the social drivers of this heartbreaking trend.
Unfortunately, women in the workforce have difficulty maintaining their career as a rigid patriarchal society expects (demands, really) that we are expected to have babies, take care of the household (cook, clean, etc), raise kids, take the kids to school/activities, and have a パート“part time job”. Well, sort of.
The problem is not that simple since it’s systemic in the Japanese culture and I need to elaborate a little more — maybe in the near future.
Mental Healthcare is not readily available in Japan as much like in the west because we have the word “gaman” and it is “bitoku” (virtuous) to do so. Japan should stop collectively romanticizing putting lids on their emotions, keeping heads down and mouths shut.
Gaman means to endure the seemingly unbearable with patience and dignity.
耐える、堪える、我慢する、辛抱する、無理する
So many ways to express endurance/perseverance in Japanese.
Often used “gaman” as a convenient excuse to be bullied into submission because we all need jobs. 70% of the “temp worker” are women. Many have recently lost their temp jobs due to the pandemic driving them into taking their own lives.
After therapy and coaching, I gathered myself to embark on a new journey. 10 years ago, I came to New York to start over, but not everyone is lucky as I am.
I am speaking up because we all need to talk about this issue. We are not robots, and “ganbatte kudasai” (Please do the best you can / Please do your best) a phrase that’s casually thrown around can only take you so far but not forever.
Japan Mental Health Support: https://www.mhlw.go.jp/mamorouyokokoro/
Get help in the US: https://suicidepreventionlifeline.org/talk-to-someone-now/
