Japan Appoints A ‘Minister of Loneliness’

It’s a sign of the times. Japan has appointed a “Minister of Loneliness” to help reduce “loneliness and social isolation” among its residents as the country deals with rising suicide rates, reports the Japan Times. Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga appointed Tetsushi Sakamoto, who is currently also a minister in charge of tackling Japan’s declining birth rate, to oversee government policies to deal with loneliness and isolation.

“Women are suffering from isolation more (than men are), and the number of suicides is on a rising trend,” Suga told Sakamoto on a February 12 news conference announcing the new role, according to the Japan Times. “I hope you will identify problems and promote policy measures comprehensively.”

Loneliness has long been an issue in Japan, often discussed alongside “hikikomori,” or people who live in extreme social isolation. During the COVID-19 pandemic, with people more socially isolated than ever, Japan saw a rise in suicides for the first time in 11 years. In October 2020, more people died from suicide than had died from COVID-19 in Japan in all of 2020. There were 2,153 suicide deaths that month and 1,765 total virus deaths up to the end of October 2020, per the Japanese National Police Agency. (After a surge in new cases starting in December, Japan has now recorded 7,506 total coronavirus deaths as of February 22.) Studies show that loneliness has been linked to a higher risk of health issues like heart disease, dementia, and eating disorders.

Women in Japan, in particular, have contributed to the uptick in suicides. In October, 879 women died by suicide in Japan — a 70% increase compared to the same month in 2019.

More and more single women live alone in Japan, but many of them don’t have stable employment, Michiko Ueda, a Japanese professor who studies suicide in Japan, told the BBC last week.