1. Japan Sick Social Pathologies in the Foreign (and Japanese) Imagination

2. Themes Social pathologies to be dealt with –Hikikomori ひきこもり –Suicide –Bullying いじめ –“Compensated dating” 援助交際 Only items taken up by foreign press Only items that are somewhat current

3. Themes As in topics heretofore –Exaggeration –Suspension of disbelief Implausible numbers –Lack of comparison Same pattern in “Western countries” (US, UK) ignored

4. Themes Specific to this topic –The power of names Patterns found in other countries given or known by Japanese terminology -> Japanese singularity –The power of culture Patterns found in other countries are explained by distinctive national culture for Japan (but not other countries) –The power of media Patterns found in other countries that are ignored by the local media and blown up into major issues in Japan and then reported abroad as peculiarly Japanese

5. Moral Panics A moral panic is the intensity of feeling expressed in a population about an issue that appears to threaten the social order. US-UK researchers –1970s youth culture changes Mods and rockers Notting Hill (UK) drug takers –Retroactively applied to Ritual satanic abuse Video gamers Obesity

6. Mass Media and Moral Panics Aspects of the Japanese mass media that –Lead to moral panics –Lead foreign correspondents to exaggerate social pathologies in Japan Geographical concentration –Tokyo based –Regional bureaus –Regions -> Tokyo -> Nation Cross ownership –TV – Newspapers –Magazines – Newspapers

7. Kisha Kurabu A kisha club ( 記者クラブ, kisha kurabu), or "reporters' club", from the Japanese word kisha ( 記者 ), meaning reporter, is a Japanese news-gathering association of reporters from specific news organizations, whose reporting centers on a press room set up by sources such as the Prime Minister's official residence, government ministries, local authorities, the police, or corporate bodies. Institutions with a kisha club limit their press conferences to the journalists of that club, and membership rules for kisha clubs are restrictive. This limits access by domestic magazines and the foreign media, as well as freelance reporters, to the press conferences.

8. Kisha Kurabu Consequences –All major media cover the same issues at the same time with largely the same content Government -> Cross owned newspapers, television, magazines -> nation –Passive reporting Reporters basically recycle government (or corporate) handouts –No time for analysis Everyone gets same item at same time –File story or not cover it Reporter has not done own investigation

9. “Buzz word” Analysis Found in other countries –Yuppies –DINKS (dual income, no kids) –Generation X –Lager louts –Helicopter parents Japanese difference –Buzz words from mass media become categories for social analysis and government policy

10. “Buzz word” Analysis Contemporary “buzz word” issues that originated in journalism or mass market writing –Freetaa フリーター –NEET –Irregular employment 非正規雇用 hiseiki koyo –Hikikomori –Parasite singles –Herbaceous men (Herbivore) 草食系男子（そうしょ くけいだんし）または草食男子（そうしょくだん し）

11. “Buzz word” Analysis Blanket terms that do not address cause –NEET Not in Education, Employment, or Training Why not asked –Freetaa Finding self 自分探し Bad job market No marketable skills

12. “Buzz word” Analysis Combine different causes that lead to the same result to produce a major social problem (moral panic) –“School refusal syndrome” 登校拒否 不登校 More than 30 days unexcused absence in one school year Only elementary and middle-school –High school not compulsory –Ignores causes Fear bullying Poor and ashamed of clothes, inability to participate in fee- paying school activities Hang out with friends

13. “Buzz word” Analysis Absolute numbers rather than rates –“More than 110,000 school not attending school!” More impressive than on a rate basis –1/370 elementary, 1/60 middle-school –“Foreign Crime Up!” Yes, but the number of foreigners in Japan increased much more than the number of crimes attributed to foreigners

14. “Buzz word” Analysis Twist and expand foreign concepts –NEET 16-18 in British context 18-34 (after expansion) in Japanese context ⇒ Japan has a larger NEET problem than Britain Selective foreign comparison –Comparison by Japanese with a single (real or imagined) foreign case used as an argumentative strategy –Axe-grinding Japanese often quoted in foreign accounts

15. Hikikomori How many have heard this term? What is your image of hikikomori?

16. Shutting Out the Sun

17. Research Project Compare English text and translation –Simple factual errors about Japan Have these been corrected? Does the translator correct? Does the translator note corrections? –Vague citations to unidentifiable sources Have these been tracked down? Does the translator note when sources cannot be identified? Is the translator grinding an axe? –Japanese who have an axe to grind like to be able to cite a foreign source that says what they want to say –Leads to overlooking errors –Leads to corrections without explanation

18. Michael Zielenziger American journalist (born 1955) Knight-Ridder Tokyo correspondent 1996- 2003 Princeton and Stanford education Abe Fellowship recipient

19. “Shutting Out the Sun” Major US trade book (commercial) publisher Heavily promoted –Seminars and lectures and universities –NPR and PBS appearances –Local radio and television stations –Academic conferences Critical reception –Almost universally praised, accepted

20. “Shutting Out the Sun” Three times as many people die each year in suicides than in car accidents. Japan's male suicide rate in particular had exploded and become the highest in the wealthy, industrial world.

21. Recent US Trends More people now die of suicide than in car accidents, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention…. From 1999 to 2010, the suicide rate among Americans ages 35 to 64 rose by nearly 30 percent, to 17.6 deaths per 100,000 people, up from 13.7. The most pronounced increases were seen among men in their 50s, a group in which suicide rates jumped by nearly 50 percent, to about 30 per 100,000.

22. Recent US Trends Suicide rates can be difficult to interpret because of variations in the way local officials report causes of death. While reporting of suicides is not always consistent around the country, the current numbers are, if anything, too low. “It’s vastly underreported,” said Julie Phillips, an associate professor of sociology at Rutgers University who has published research on rising suicide rates. “We know we’re not counting all suicides.” New York Times May 2, 2013 Suicide Rates Rise Sharply in U.S. By TARA PARKER-POPE

23. “Shutting Out the Sun” Japanese women have systematically chosen not to marry and bear children. Today Japan has the lowest birthrate in the world. And beginning in 2005, Japan's population began to shrink in absolute terms, as more deaths than births were recorded. Within fifteen years, one in every nine Japanese will be over age 80.

24. Recent US Trends As of December 2011, just 51% of all American adults were married and 28% never had been, down from 72% and up from 15% in 1960. The median age of first-time newlyweds is at an all- time high …. A bare majority of whites (55%) and minorities of Hispanics (48%) and blacks (31%) are married; majorities of all three races were married in 1960. http://www.economist.com/news/united- states/21569433-americas-marriage-rate-falling- and-its-out-wedlock-birth-rate-soaring-fraying

25. “Shutting Out the Sun” Half of all unmarried men 18 to 34 tell government census takers that they have no casual companionship, friendship and certainly no regular sexual relationship with a female. 40 percent of all women are also equally lonely.

26. “Shutting Out the Sun” More than one million young adults shut themselves in their rooms for years as a time. These adolescents and adults, known as "hikikomori", withdraw from societies for months or years at a time, not going to class, not working, not even leaving their homes, and often not even abandoning their rooms. These recluses become wholly dependent on their mothers to feed them. (Audio clip)

27. One Million Hikikomori Widely cited figure –NHK –BBC –Numerous magazine and newspaper articles (English and Japanese) –Wikipedia

28. Japan: The Missing Million (BBC 2002) Teenage boys in Japan's cities are turning into modern hermits - never leaving their rooms. Pressure from schools and an inability to talk to their families are suggested causes. Phil Rees visits the country to see what the "hikikomori" condition is all about. (Audio clip)

29. Japan: The Missing Million Japan's leading hikikomori psychiatrist, Dr Tamaki Saito, believes the cause of the problem lies within Japanese history and society. Traditional poetry and music often celebrate the nobility of solitude. And until the mid-nineteenth century, Japan had cut itself off from the outside world for 200 years. More recently, Dr Saito points to the relationship between mothers and their sons.

30. Japan: The Missing Million I watched last night's programme whilst my son of 26 was in his room upstairs which he occupies for almost 24 hrs a day. Although he does come out of his room and joins me for meals, he has no social life, no friends and no job. I've sought counselling but my son refuses to believe he is in need of help and will not seek medical advice. I don't know how to help him. (Rosemarie Dowsett, UK)

31. Japan: The Missing Million I found the programme very interesting but I am unsure that this condition only exists within Japan. I have a son with exactly the symptoms described and any one of the boys featured in the programme could have been my son. The only difference is that I insist on seeing him, I do not take food to him he has to come downstairs and fetch it and I have been seeking help for him. (Jacqueline Yates, UK)

32. 斉藤環

33. 岩手県北上市出身。筑波大学医学専門学群環境生態学卒 業、 1990 年同大大学院医学研究科博士課程修了。医学博 士。筑波大では稲村博の指導を受けた。 一般的には、『社会的ひきこもり』（ PHP 新書）で認知 されるに至った。このことから「ひきこもり」という言 葉は一部で斎藤の造語だと思われているが、本書のタイ トルは英語の翻訳である。同書はひきこもりについての エッセー。同じく『「ひきこもり」救出マニュアル』 （ PHP 研・梶 j では、幅広い読者を対象とするが、ひきこ もりについて実際の診療をふまえて記述しているため、 これらに関連して TV 、講演等でひきこもり救出について 語るようになる。

34. Saito Tamaki’s Home Page

35. The Hikikomori “Industry” Video clip

36. The Hikikomori “Industry” According to a survey ある調査によろと –1.6 million hikikomori NGO (NPO) –KHJ 親の会 KHJ Oya-no-kai 奥山雅久 Okuyama Masahisa –Expert in video Violent examples

37. 奥山雅久 自身も引きこもりの 長男を持つ親の一人。 息子の暴力が激しく なり、会社を辞め、 家も出て親の会の代 表とし て活動してい る。

38. Suicide Questions for students –Historically, is Japan a high suicide (rate) culture? –Historically, who was more prone to suicide, men or women? –What is the demographic (social) profile of a Japanese must likely to commit suicide? Region Gender Age Residence (urban or rural)

39. Suicide Questions for students –What is the most common method of committing suicide? –Do railroad companies make the families of those who commit suicide pay for disruption?

40. Reasons for Suicide Nowadays, the profile has changed, with 71 percent of 2009’s suicides being men. The most common reason for killing themselves is financial difficulties, the loss of a job or unpayable debts. –Maryknoll Father William Grimm is the publisher of UCA News and former editor-in- chief of “Katorikku Shimbun,” Japan’s Catholic weekly

41. Medical Explanations The stigma attached to mental illness—and the psychiatrists who treat it—may also contribute to the high suicide rates. Antidepressant SSRIs didn't become widely available until 1993, and as of 2003 you could get Zoloft and Prozac only by ordering them through the mail. Claim also made in Shutting Out the Sun. –Similar or same drugs under different trade names. –Lack of basic research

42. Samurai Suicide "This is a society where this is enormous pressure on people," Hogg says. "And it's also not a Christian society. Because it's not a Christian society, in the moral code there aren't the same sanctions, if you like, against suicide. There is a long tradition of suicides in Japan, going right back to the samurai."

43. Questions About Statistics In 2009, the number of suicides exceeded 30,000 for the twelfth straight year. This figure is somewhat disputed since it is arguably capped by the conservative definition of "suicide" that has been adopted by the Japanese authorities, which differs from WHO's definition. Some people thus suggest a rather larger figure of 100,000 suicides a year. (Wikipedia)

44. Questions About Statistics WHO definition - Suicide is the act of deliberately killing oneself. Definition is NOT the issue –How to handle unexplained deaths –WHO guidelines – half of otherwise unexplained deaths ( 変死 ) Differing definitions in Japan – 厚生労働省 Labor and Welfare – lower – 警察庁 Police Agency - higher

45. Questions About Statistics “Suicide notes” found in less than half the cases ruled suicide Many ambiguous cases –“Drunk” falls on tracks –Car goes off road

46. Questions about Statistics Suicide is probably understated –Ambiguous cases “Suicidal behavior” such as substance abuse –Friendly local officials Save family embarrassment Allow collection of insurance money United States –Decentralized –No national police system –Federal government asks for statistics but states do not necessarily supply UCR 2003 16000 agencies 93 percent of population 46 states

47. Youth Suicide in Japan Foreign and domestics observers often link to “exam hell” 試験地獄 No evidence for this –Youth suicide rate in 1970s went down as competition rates went up –Seasonal variation in youth suicide does not correlate with examination dates or result announcements

48. Youth Suicide Foreign observers see youth suicide in Japan as high, even epidemic Reports on Japan do NOT note that in the US youth suicide increasing such that –In 2006, suicide was the third leading cause of death for young people ages 15 to 24.1 Of every 100,000 young people in each age group, the following number died by suicide. (National Institute of Mental Health)

49. Bullying (ijime) Questions for students –How is bullying defined? –In the case of children, in what age range is bullying most common? –What forms of bullying are most common in Japan? Physical Psychological Face to face “Cyber” –How does Japan compare with other countries in terms of bullying?

50. Bullying - Definition 文部科学省は、 2007 年 1 月 19 日、児童・生徒の問題に関 する調査で用いるいじめの定義を見直すことを決めた。 従来のいじめの定義では「自分より弱い者に対して一方 的に、身体的・心理的攻撃を継続的に加え、相手が深刻 な苦痛を感じているもの」としていたが、見直し案では 「子ﾇもが一定の人間関係のある者から、心理的・物理 的攻撃を受けたことにより、精神的な苦痛を感じている もの」「いじめか否かの判断は、いじめられた子どもの 立場に立って行うよう徹底させる」とした。具体的ない じめの種類については「パソコン・携帯電話での中傷」 「悪口」などが追加された。いじめの件数についても 「発生件数」から「認知件数」に変更された。

51. Bullying - Definition UK – no legal definition US – no legal definition –Some states have Inherently hard to survey Significance –Different surveys within same country will report different results –Reports of xx.x percent are spurious precision –Cross national comparisons are difficult

52. Non-sequitur Reporting On November 6, Japan’s Ministry of Education received an anonymous letter from a high school student claiming he would kill himself the following Saturday if he was still experiencing bullying by Wednesday. Then, on Thursday, a second letter came in, this time from a female student. The girl, who apparently sent the letter from Tokyo’s Shibuya ward, wrote: “I am also going to die on Nov. 11. I can’t forgive the people who bullied me. I’m going to kill them.“ And today: five more letters threatening suicide on Saturday have shown up at the Education Minister’s office. So what did the government do today? They announced that they will order (yes, order) NHK, the national broadcaster, to focus on the issue of North Korea’s abductions of Japanese nationals in its international shortwave radio broadcasts.

53. Ken Worsley Japan Economy News is written and edited by Ken Worsley, a longtime resident of Tokyo and senior partner at a Tokyo-based firm specializing in strategic consulting, market entry, marketing and multilingual web-based solutions for a wide variety of clients in Japan. He writes a regular column, Back & Forward, for Japan Inc., a monthly business magazine based in Tokyo, and has also been published in Central Banking Quarterly and Metropolis, Japan’s largest English language weekly magazine by circulation. Interviews with Ken on topics concerning business in Japan have appeared in Newsweek, Newsweek Japan, The Japan Times, The Sydney Morning Herald, Sports Nippon and the Korea Herald. He has also been interviewed on NHK, the Australian Broadcasting Corporation and Radio New Zealand. In addition, he has offered commentary on the Tokyo MetPod, a weekly podcast focusing on life and affairs in Japan.

54. Lack of Reference Most school children in Japan have experienced bullying, both as the victim and the perpetrator, a government report indicated on Friday. Some 86.9 percent of elementary school pupils questioned said they were bullied -- including being shunned by friends, ignored or talked about behind their backs -- at least once in the past three years, the report said. And 80.3 percent of junior high school students said they were picked on at least once in the same period, it said.

55. Lack of Reference What are you not told? –How is bullying defined? –What are the rates for other countries?

56. Peculiarity Schoolyard bullying has long bedevilled Japan and, as in other countries, has taken a high-tech twist in recent years. as in other countries –Highly unusual –No acknowledgement of problem elsewhere –Assertions of uniqueness, peculiarity

57. Standard Article Format Statement of the “problem” Extreme example Cultural or social explanation Sound bites from “experts” –Not necessarily well known in Japan –Fluent in English 国際派 –Willing to talk to foreign correspondents –Willing to say want the correspondent wants to have said

58. 援助交際 Enjo Kosai How many students have heard/know the term? How would you define it? How prevalent do you think it is? Is it only in Japan?

59. Enjo kosai Term from 1980s Often abbreviated in Japanese as enko 援交 Translated as “compensated dating” Moral panic 1999-2000 “Research” largely from that period Controversial Foreign view – “underage prostitution” Domestic view – “compensated dating” Academic view – “compensated dating”

60. Enjo Kosai Reports of similar pattern in Taiwan and Korea US but older age cohort See Wikipedia article Well researched and documented but dated Not major “Japan Sick” issue until 2015 October

62. Press Statement At a press conference at the Japan National Press Club in Tokyo on Monday, De Boer-Buquicchio said she had visited local governments, talked to victims and businesses alike, and been to shelters for sexually abused children. She pointed out that 13 percent of Japanese schoolgirls are involved in some form of enjo kossai [compensated dating]. (https://news.vice.com/article/the-sexual- exploitation-of-children-in-japan-is-condemned- by-un-after-investigation)

63. Enjo kosai Japan's government wants a UN expert to retract a claim that 13% of Japanese schoolgirls engage in "compensated dating", which can involve sex. The foreign ministry said the remarks by Maud de Boer- Buquicchio were "inappropriate" and "regrettable". But the special rapporteur on child prostitution said she had referred to estimates in open sources to highlight a phenomenon that had to be tackled. (http://www.bbc.com/news/world- asia-34774630)

64. “Open Sources” Here's the main dodgy source that the "U.N. expert" used: The 13% number comes from the blog (posing as a newspaper: "Asia Times") post published in 2008 from an expat based in Hong Kong who claimed to interview a Japanese girl in Hong Kong and got the 13% number from the expat advertising mag The Tokyo Weekender which did an unscientific on- the-street and email survey. The original article that The Tokyo Weekender published is no longer available online, and the Asian sex specialty expat, "William Sparrow" (one of many pen names for NJ native SE Asia expat Frank Visakay), who was a NY chef before moving to Hong Kong, maintained a website called "Asian Sex Gazette". Which is currently down. He wrote many books about having sex in SE Asia: RED-LIGHT NIGHTS, BANGKOK DAZE and JASMINE FEVER. The reason his site is down is probably because he's dead: passed away in 2010. There is one example of "compensation" or "enjo" here that is a fact: the U.N. and tax payers picked up Maud de Boer-Buquicchio's tab for her Japan trip last month, which wasn't necessary as she got her info by doing a web search online.

65. “Open Sources” Previous slide http://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2015/11/11/na tional/u-n-official-backtracks-japan-schoolgirl- compensated-dating-claim/ Comment by “letteradegree” Personal research Found that basic claim was from dodgy English language blogs Search required less than 10 minutes

66. Absurdity of Claim If 13% of middle and high school girls were engaging in enjo kosai 216,000 high school girls 225,000 middle school girls 441,000 total

67. Jake Adelstein

68. Adelstein grew up in Missouri and moved to Japan at age 19 to study Japanese literature at Sophia University. In 1993 Adelstein became the first non- Japanese staff writer at the Yomiuri Shinbun newspaper, where he worked for twelve years. After leaving the Yomiuri, Adelstein published an expose of how an alleged crime boss, Tadamasa Goto, made a deal with the FBI to gain entry to the United States for a liver transplant at the University of California Los Angeles (UCLA). In 2009 Adelstein published a memoir about his career as a reporter in Japan, "Tokyo Vice", in which he accused Goto of threatening to kill him over the story. According to Adelstein, the yakuza told him: "Erase the story or be erased." Adelstein was subsequently a reporter for a US State Department investigation into human trafficking in Japan, and now writes for the Daily Beast, Vice News, The Japan Times and other publications. He is a board member and advisor to the Lighthouse: Center for Human Trafficking Victims (Former Polaris Project Japan). (Source: Wikipedia “Jake Adelstein”)

69. スライド終了 That’s All Folks! Slides and Readings: www2.gol.com/users/ehk/saitama/images ehk.servebeer.com/saitama/images eMail Address: ehk@gol.com ehkuso@gmail.com Always put “saitama images”, your name, and your student number in the subject line English or Japanese 日本語も利用可能