Despite the general decrease in the number of people who take their lives, the figure is increasing among Japanese minors. A Pime missionary directs a listening center to Hikikomorithe people who depart from society, young people overwhelmed by the eagerness for overcoming and discrimination of Bullying
Tokyo () – Despite the general decrease in suicide rate throughout the country, the number of minors who take their lives continues to increase in Japan. Last year 527 cases were recorded, 14 more than in 2023, while in 2022 it had been 513. In most cases (349) were high school students, but there were also 15 primary level children. The number of women and girls adolescents is also increasing, with 288 cases of the total.
An official of the Ministry of Health, Labor and Social Welfare said that the situation was “serious” and pointed out the need to carry out new studies to understand the deep causes that contribute to the discomfort of young people.
Father Marco Villa, missionary of Pime who since 2009 serves in the Diocese of Saitama, half an hour by train from the capital, Tokyo, states that there are several elements that could explain the increase in suicides. “Children are increasing Missionary – There are one or two students who stop attending. ” According to official data, in 2023, 415,252 minors refused to go to school.
Since 2012 p. Marco Villa coordinates the listening center “Mizu IPPAI”, which offers support to the Hikikomoripeople who retire from society to live in solitude. “In our center we do not have many children, in reality, but there are some. The case of a young woman who stopped leaving when she was still in primary is in primary because other girls made him bullying for her physical appearance. Fortunately, his story had a happy ending and now he is well. ”
Throughout Japan the total number of suicides in 2023 fell to 20,268 (on a population of 126 million), one of the lowest figures since the records began in 1978. “It is quite common that in families there are members with some form of psychological or mental discomfort. But often only pharmacological treatments are provided. Accompaniment therapies are very expensive and that is why people must load this cross alone. ”
The isolation has its roots in the Asian culture, where the individual is less important than the community, the missionary continues to explain. “One is left – this is also the meaning of the word Hikikomori In Japanese – not to be a burden to others. Social morals still have a strong weight in Japan. The meeting spaces of the world of young people disappear in adulthood, when they enter the world of work and have to deal with a very rigid society. ”
The biggest challenge for the “Mizu Ippai” center, where Father Villa coordinates a group of volunteers, is to intercept situations of need. “If young people have a solid family, sometimes their parents get in touch with us or social services try to derive any. But when a person locks himself in a room, it is difficult to make him get out of there. In the vast majority of cases, those who come to us already have a diagnosis of some kind of psychological discomfort. ”
Fr. Marco and the volunteers are always present: “Those who attend our center are free to come whenever they want. At this time we can say that we have about sixty people who are usually coming. However, it would be excessive to call them “friendship.” The missionary’s work wants to be, in principle, an opportunity to escape oppression: “People do not want to talk about their problems, they just want to spend some time away from home. We offer our time and the possibility of talking, if you wish – explains the Missionary of Pime -. We try to be a place where you can take a first step to return to normal life, where you can spend time without feeling uncomfortable. ”
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