Japan Suicude
In this life, everything has an opposite, such as happiness and misery, pleasure and pain, and success and failure. Moreover, if there is life, there is death, is one of the greatest mysteries of life mankind has been searching. For better or worse, there are many trials and challenges in this life, and people struggle to overcome their challenges. In fact, many people have difficulty in finding an answer in their lives, and often question where they will go after their death; on the other hand, everybody knows they definitely will die sooner or later. At the moment, some of them want to leave the situations upon which they are placed. In order to change their present situation, people choose what they want to do. Some people stick with the problem while others try to escape. In the feudal days of Japan, if the situation became too stressful and there was no way to resolve the problem, people often killed themselves; it was called seppuku or hara-kiri. Toyomasa Fuse, in Suicide, Individual and Society, states that, "The powerful motives for committing seppuku-'saving one's honor,' 'making apologies' and 'assuming one's moral (as opposed to legal) responsibility for one's own mistakes or one's superior one's group . . ." (
When they become depressed, they feel there are helpless, worthless, and hopeless. These negative thoughts cause mental illnesses and one of the worst decisions, suicide. Stresses come from the long preparation for school examinations, or Juken. In order to get into a prestigious school, parents and young people prepare a long time to pass these school examinations. Iga explains that the examination is almost solely based on memorization of what they have learned in school and from the textbook. Not only do they go to school to study, but also they pay extra money to attend Juku (neighborhood cram school) (39). Because some schools do not teach everything that they need for a school examination, most students go to Juku to study harder, especially for their examinations. Young people spend a lot of time studying, and they do not have enough time to relax. Fortunately, if students can pass the exam, they are happy. But this is the competition. When somebody becomes a winner, others have to be losers. Some students are strong enough to stand this stress and pressure from parents and the competition. However, not everybody is strong, and some students get stressed out. Joan E Rigdon wrote about Konno "was one among many such youths who felt overwhelming pressure from their parents and culture to succeed and committed suicide as a result" (A1). Thus, for young people, Juken is not only passing a test, but also choosing their lives and a test for their honor.
Some common words found in the essay are:
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Approximate Word count = 1773
Approximate Pages = 7 (250 words per page double spaced)
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