Covid effect: In Japan, minister appointed to combat loneliness

In Japan, the Covid-19 pandemic, the worst health crisis to hit humanity in a century, has reversed years of progress in combating a stubbornly high suicide rate, prompting the government to appoint a Minister for Loneliness. It is a first for the country, which became only the second in the world to do so.

According to The Japan Times, Tetsushi Sakamoto — also in charge of tackling the nation’s falling birth rate and revitalising regional economies — got the portfolio in Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga’s Cabinet on February 12. Before this, Britain was the only country to have a minister to this effect; it appointed a minister of loneliness in 2018.

In his inaugural address, cited in a CNN report on Tuesday, Sakamoto said the PM appointed him to address national matters “including the issue of the increasing women’s suicide rate under the pandemic”. “Suga instructed me to examine the issue and put forward a comprehensive strategy, by coordinating with the related ministry,” Sakamoto added. “I hope to carry out activities to prevent social loneliness and isolation and to protect ties between people.”

The CNN report also said Japan created an “isolation/loneliness countermeasures office” within the Cabinet on February 19 for issues such as suicide and child poverty. The move comes after Japan’s health and welfare ministry said in January that the number of people taking their lives rose for the first time in over a decade last year

About 20,919 people died by suicide in 2020, according to the preliminary data, up 3.7% from the previous year. That compares with 3,460 deaths from Covid-19 in the same period. 2020 marked the first year-onyear rise in suicides in over a decade, with women and children taking their lives at higher rates. Suicides among men actually fell slightly from 2019, but over 14% more suicides were recorded among women.

“The coronavirus is definitely a major factor,” Michiko Ueda, an associate professor of political science at Waseda University in Tokyo who studies suicide in Japan, told AFP last month. “We cannot deny the possibility that figures will rise again this year.”

Mental health experts have warned that suicides could rise during the pandemic, driven by diverse factors including economic hardship, stress and family abuse. The pandemic has also disproportionately hit industries that employ many women, often on contracts, including hospitality and hotels.