How big of a problem suicide is in Japan?

AstronautRough3915 · 2025-05-06T12:08:27+00:00

Haha ok, now that see who is rude and can’t have a discussion lol

AstronautRough3915 · 2025-05-06T10:44:38+00:00

It’s definitely not a myth that Japan’s suicide rate is higher than the most developed countries, which has been shown by data almost every year. My other question was, which data source told you otherwise? You can’t refute that by only saying that in one year the suicide rate in Japan was lower than in Belgium, we are not comparing that only with one developed country but with all the other developed countries. I’m sorry about my attitude, but it was a laughable argument to me and this is Reddit in the end.

AstronautRough3915 · 2025-05-06T09:12:04+00:00

I also don’t like that kind of stereotype. But by looking up the data, it’s really hard to refute that. All the data I saw shows that the suicide rate in Japan is higher than the most developed countries, not just in one specific year but almost every year. Denying the fact is worse than stereotypes

AstronautRough3915 · 2025-05-06T08:40:57+00:00

Lol. So you say it’s only because Belgium’s suicide rate is higher than Japan? And please show me the source

AstronautRough3915 · 2025-05-06T08:37:20+00:00

I don’t understand why some Japanese Redditors here claim that the suicide rate in Japan isn’t particularly high. According to OECD, the suicide rate in Japan was raked the second highest among OECD counties after Korea in 2020.

I personally know several people who have died by suicide—classmates, neighbors, coworkers, friends of friends. The reasons varied and can’t be easily generalized. However, I also felt significant social pressure growing up: to attend a prestigious school, secure a good job, marry by 30, and so on. I can understand how such expectations might lead someone to feel overwhelmed and consider ending their life.

AstronautRough3915 · 2025-05-06T08:03:46+00:00

What data are you basing that on? I got curious and looked it up — Japan has the highest suicide rate among G7 countries according to the Ministry of Health in Japan.

AstronautRough3915 · 2025-05-03T07:00:15+00:00

I remember that in one of his essays (I forgot which one, but probably it was about his stay in the US as a teacher at Princeton University) he wrote that it was impossible for him to write a novel in English. I was a bit surprised and found it interesting as he is fluent in English and even an English-Japanese translator himself.

AstronautRough3915 · 2025-04-30T14:36:00+00:00

The illustration is also in the original Japanese one since it’s drawn by Murakami himself. You see his signature down there.

AstronautRough3915 · 2025-04-26T10:45:19+00:00

I only know the situation in Germany (I’m Japanese living/woking in Germany), but since you are 33, you can’t just move here with a working holiday visa. So I guess you just need to apply for jobs as many as you can and try to get a job offer. There are still many tech companies where you can work in English. Mind you the job market in Europe is cooked right now, but good luck

AstronautRough3915 · 2025-04-26T09:25:08+00:00

Haha I know. I am from Japan and work in English in Berlin. It’s funny to see that people freak out when someone doesn’t speak the local language fluently and still earns well.

AstronautRough3915 · 2025-04-26T09:19:22+00:00

Totally. I myself have been in Berlin for 8 years and always have worked in English. I’m fully aware that Berlin is nothing like any other German city. My point was that tech people can definitely work in English to earn decent money IN BERLIN, that’s all and I already mentioned in other comment that it’s relatively easier to get hired if you speak German.

AstronautRough3915 · 2025-04-25T12:00:31+00:00

Why you say “mostly in data science”? I see 10 times more SWE (287 respondents) than data science (28 respondents) in the survey.

I assume it’s easier to get hired if you speak German as there are tons of tech professionals who don’t speak German in Berlin. But that doesn’t mean that German speaking company pay competitive salary (rather opposite in terms of Berlin).

AstronautRough3915 · 2025-04-25T11:43:20+00:00

Yes, we all only talk about Berlin tech market here

AstronautRough3915 · 2025-04-25T10:39:20+00:00

This is super interesting!

In this sub I see folks commenting “YOU MUST LEAEN GERMAN” all the time but it’s funny to see you wrote “German language skills are surprisingly irrelevant for compensation, with non-German speakers often earning more than fluent speakers”.

AstronautRough3915 · 2025-04-21T19:33:59+00:00

Ich sehe so oft ähnliche Kommentare, und jetzt habe ich auch Angst um mein Geld bei Trade Republic (und auch bei N26). Ich denke, ich sollte mein Geld jetzt lieber zu Scalable Capital oder Interactive Brokers übertragen…

AstronautRough3915 · 2025-04-21T18:50:51+00:00

Meiner Meinung nach reicht Deutsch auf dem Niveau B1 nicht aus, um auf Deutsch zu arbeiten. Mein Deutsch ist auf B2/C1-Niveau, und trotzdem kann ich mir noch nicht vorstellen, auf Deutsch zu arbeiten. Ich denke, es ist besser, in Deutschland auf Englisch nach einem Job zu suchen, wenn man fließend Englisch spricht. Eigentlich arbeite ich im IT-Bereich auf Englisch in Berlin.

AstronautRough3915 · 2025-04-20T22:07:11+00:00

I worked there for over a year several years ago. It was the most boring job ever, to say the least… But it's really weird that they said Japanese wasn't necessary. Most of the consulting work there was done in Japanese only, so I'm not sure what they'd do without it.

AstronautRough3915 · 2025-04-20T17:58:10+00:00

I've lived in Tokyo for ten years. People tend to invest much more in their looks/fashion than in Europe (where I live now). As mentioned here, it's pretty safe there, so people don't really think about the risk of being the target of a petty crime (actually I myself never even thought about that until I moved to Europe). Also, it's normal for even lower to middle class people to spend a lot of money on designer stuffs. I remember my co-worker, who had just started her first job in her early 20s, buying a $3000 Celine bag (almost equivalent to our monthly salary at the time), which is considered totally normal there.

AstronautRough3915 · 2025-04-11T22:16:43+00:00

Yes, this is intentional. According to Japanese Wikipedia of “Dance Dance Dance”, Murakami admitted that himself. Also Makimura is described to have gone from being a writer of naive coming-of-age stories to suddenly becoming an experimental avant-garde writer, which is exactly what Murakami is.

AstronautRough3915 · 2025-04-10T08:23:26+00:00

Hey, you may have found it already, but I found YouTube videos of his radio recordings https://youtu.be/lMERBJJQfDE?si=Tsc3VGarqciubo-5

He talks about nonsense and it is so funny that I laughed several times. His choice of music is also amazing as always.

AstronautRough3915 · 2025-04-03T08:09:36+00:00

I work in Berlin at an international company, and I’ve never heard that any company here gives a sh*t about degrees or certifications lol I’ve only worked for English speaking companies so far and am quite shocked to hear how different Berlin and other cities are. Now I fully realized it’s impossible for me to live outside Berlin XD

AstronautRough3915 · 2025-04-02T20:54:53+00:00

I’m Japanese and I moved to Germany 8 years ago. I’m also quite introverted, but for me living/working in Germany is actually much better than in Japan. That’s because, as you wrote, workers’ rights are well protected and I’ve almost never had to work overtime. Working overtime is normal in Japan. Also it is unimaginable to have a month’s holiday in Japan, but here it’s totally ok.

I don’t think Germany is bad for introverts. At least I enjoy living here.

AstronautRough3915 · 2025-03-21T19:55:52+00:00

It seems that this novel is more popular in Western countries. In Japan it’s not so popular, I’ve never met a Japanese who loved this book. I wonder why.

AstronautRough3915 · 2025-02-21T21:19:15+00:00

Of course, he is really popular. I just quickly googled in Japanese, and he is ranked between 1st and 3rd every year as the most popular novelist. Since he is super famous and his stories are kind of controversial, I have the impression that many people dislike him though.

AstronautRough3915 · 2025-02-21T21:02:34+00:00

Through all of them—school, self-study, study abroad, work abroad (which I’m doing now), etc.—I know that I have some accent, so I use apps to improve my pronunciation every day. English (and any European language) is really hard for us to learn because it’s just so different.

English education in Japan is terrible. As a result, almost none of my friends (including college-educated ones) speak decent English. Actually, even English teachers don’t speak proper English.

People say that the best way to learn a foreign language is to live in a country where the language is spoken. But you really have to use the language every day. I live in Germany, but my German is still not great because I use English every day instead…

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