5 ms·

over hyped , they have the largest suicide rates in the world , the japanese even have a forest where stressed people go to commit suicide. every nation is fit

mbesto 6y ago
This trope needs to die. They literally do not have the highest suicide rate in the world, far from it: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_suicide_rate https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_suicide_r... In fact, the US is very close to it. (14.3 vs 13.7)
- sandworm101 6y ago
  There is also some overhyping of Japan's extended lifespans. A statistically significant number of japan's very old have been linked to various forms of fraud, enough to impact average lifespan calculations. After several horrific cases (deaths not being reported) a nationwide effort was made to locate the very old (>110). Many have not been located. Many of those small japanese villages with phenomenally old populations were a myth. People were staying on the books long after death. "More than 230,000 elderly people in Japan who are listed as being aged 100 or over are unaccounted for, officials said following a nationwide inquiry." https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-pacific-11258071 https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-pacific-11258071
- 0x2d123 6y ago
  It's amusing that every positive thing about Japan or Korea will have someone going "AcKtuALLY, Japanese/Korean kill themselves more, blah blah blah..." as if to invalidate them, whether or not it has anything to do with the subject. To that point, I'd rather take my life by my own free will than succumb to avoidable diseases/health complications as a result of the failure of my society and its institutions.
- s1artibartfast 6y ago
  I think discussing suicide rate overall is almost a red herring. Rates are very low, statistically speaking. While it is often used as a proxy for major depression, depression is much more prevalent than suicide (7,000/100,000 in the US[1]) and the two don't have the same correlation when compared between countries. For example, despite Japan's slightly higher suicide rate of 14.3/100,000, the rate of depression is the US is 4X higher than Japan's %2 [2]. If one were to to consider some sort of absurd comparative value judgement about culture, they should address the following: The difference in suicide rate between US and Japan is 6/1,000,000 (with Japan higher). The difference in depression is ~50,000/1,000,000 (with US higher). IF you had to pick between the two, which would you take? https://www.nimh.nih.gov/health/statistics/major-depression.shtml https://www.nimh.nih.gov/health/statistics/major-depression.... https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/epidemiology-and-psychiatric-sciences/article/lifetime-and-12month-prevalence-severity-and-unmet-need-for-treatment-of-common-mental-disorders-in-japan-results-from-the-final-dataset-of-world-mental-health-japan-survey/0F37D4CCB97180F692F3DA81DFD51C85 https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/epidemiology-and-psy...
  - DanBC 6y ago
    > I think discussing suicide rate overall is almost a red herring. I agree, especially if people are comparing stats across countries without an understanding of how those stats are created. Are the numbers used age-standardised? If not you're going to see higher rates in countries with an older population. Are they using the same definition for death by suicide? > Rates are very low, statistically speaking. Rates for the US and for Japan are high. Suicide is a mostly preventable death. Suicide is most common among people who are 40 and older, so it takes people well before they'd die otherwise. Suicide has a large impact on survivors (eg, relatives of the deceased) -- it significantly increases their risk of dying by suicide and it degrades their quality of life. We need to pay more attention to suicide, even if people think the rates are low.
rasengan 6y ago
Unfortunately, the suicide rate in Korea is also high (as are many other nations). This is off topic from fitness.
voisin 6y ago
What is the connection you are making between suicide and being fit from walking more? I think it has more to do with the long work hours crowding out leisure time, aging population, fewer job opportunities due to stagnant economy, and massive inflation in real estate turning people into debt slaves.

mbesto 6y ago

This trope needs to die. They literally do not have the highest suicide rate in the world, far from it: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_suicide_rate https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_suicide_r... In fact, the US is very close to it. (14.3 vs 13.7)

sandworm101 6y ago
There is also some overhyping of Japan's extended lifespans. A statistically significant number of japan's very old have been linked to various forms of fraud, enough to impact average lifespan calculations. After several horrific cases (deaths not being reported) a nationwide effort was made to locate the very old (>110). Many have not been located. Many of those small japanese villages with phenomenally old populations were a myth. People were staying on the books long after death. "More than 230,000 elderly people in Japan who are listed as being aged 100 or over are unaccounted for, officials said following a nationwide inquiry." https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-pacific-11258071 https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-pacific-11258071
0x2d123 6y ago
It's amusing that every positive thing about Japan or Korea will have someone going "AcKtuALLY, Japanese/Korean kill themselves more, blah blah blah..." as if to invalidate them, whether or not it has anything to do with the subject. To that point, I'd rather take my life by my own free will than succumb to avoidable diseases/health complications as a result of the failure of my society and its institutions.
s1artibartfast 6y ago
I think discussing suicide rate overall is almost a red herring. Rates are very low, statistically speaking. While it is often used as a proxy for major depression, depression is much more prevalent than suicide (7,000/100,000 in the US[1]) and the two don't have the same correlation when compared between countries. For example, despite Japan's slightly higher suicide rate of 14.3/100,000, the rate of depression is the US is 4X higher than Japan's %2 [2]. If one were to to consider some sort of absurd comparative value judgement about culture, they should address the following: The difference in suicide rate between US and Japan is 6/1,000,000 (with Japan higher). The difference in depression is ~50,000/1,000,000 (with US higher). IF you had to pick between the two, which would you take? https://www.nimh.nih.gov/health/statistics/major-depression.shtml https://www.nimh.nih.gov/health/statistics/major-depression.... https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/epidemiology-and-psychiatric-sciences/article/lifetime-and-12month-prevalence-severity-and-unmet-need-for-treatment-of-common-mental-disorders-in-japan-results-from-the-final-dataset-of-world-mental-health-japan-survey/0F37D4CCB97180F692F3DA81DFD51C85 https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/epidemiology-and-psy...
- DanBC 6y ago
  > I think discussing suicide rate overall is almost a red herring. I agree, especially if people are comparing stats across countries without an understanding of how those stats are created. Are the numbers used age-standardised? If not you're going to see higher rates in countries with an older population. Are they using the same definition for death by suicide? > Rates are very low, statistically speaking. Rates for the US and for Japan are high. Suicide is a mostly preventable death. Suicide is most common among people who are 40 and older, so it takes people well before they'd die otherwise. Suicide has a large impact on survivors (eg, relatives of the deceased) -- it significantly increases their risk of dying by suicide and it degrades their quality of life. We need to pay more attention to suicide, even if people think the rates are low.

rasengan 6y ago

Unfortunately, the suicide rate in Korea is also high (as are many other nations). This is off topic from fitness.

voisin 6y ago

What is the connection you are making between suicide and being fit from walking more? I think it has more to do with the long work hours crowding out leisure time, aging population, fewer job opportunities due to stagnant economy, and massive inflation in real estate turning people into debt slaves.