opinios

I am currently halfway through reading Yukio Mishima's Runaway Horses, the second in the tetraology by this seminal Japanese author. Reading it has definitely given me new insight into the Japanese take on suicide.

The public perception of the act of taking one's own life is viewed completely differently in this country compared to the west.

In Australia, it is most often depression that leads people to end their own life. A person's life feels meaningless, there seems to be no point in continuing in such helpless conditions, and they decide to end it all to end the sorrow. If it occurs as a result of some scandal, the act is often viewed as a cowardly way to avoid dealing with the situation at hand, an easy way out. A way to avoid taking responsibility for your actions.

In Japan, however, even today it is often viewed as a noble thing to do - the ultimate way to take responsibility for something shameful that you have done. These CEOs and government officials who get away with dodgy stuff for years and hang themselves when they are eventually uncovered: in their eyes, they are not taking the easy way out. They are doing what they think is the only way for them to leave this world with any last shred of respect. They believe that it is expected of them.

Rooted in this mindset are the dozens of characters in Mishima's book who commit seppuku - ritual disembowelment. But their suicides are not because of their dishonorable actions; the act of knifing oneself in the stomach, then the throat, often brings them joy, happiness and contentment that their life has been worth living. To die beneath a rising sun, up on a mountain ridge overlooking a beautiful green valley on a clear day, is the dream of the book's young protagonist, desired even more than being killed in battle defending the emperor.

Or is this just the justification that today's disgraced businessmen use to end their life in a way that avoids being shamed?

I dunno. I'm too busy living.