Desperate Japanese head to 'suicide forest'

[Doughboy71]

AOKIGAHARA FOREST, Japan (CNN) -- Aokigahara Forest is known for two things in Japan: breathtaking views of Mount Fuji and suicides. Also called the Sea of Trees, this destination for the desperate is a place where the suicidal disappear, often never to be found in the dense forest.

Japan's Aokigahara Forest is known as the "suicide forest" because people often go there to take their own lives. Taro, a 46-year-old man fired from his job at an iron manufacturing company, hoped to fade into the blackness. "My will to live disappeared," said Taro. "I'd lost my identity, so I didn't want to live on this earth. That's why I went there."

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Maybe Sen. Grassley from Iowa would rather send the AIG execs here...

[Mojorabbit]

1. What does it say about us?

We are born full of potential and emotions and soul. Instead of poetry, love, humanity we end up as worker bees with our identity so tied to a job that it is not worth living if that is lost. This makes me so sad.

[Jennicut]

2. Agreed. The Japanese are also a very prideful nation.

I think they are more inclined to blame themselves and think they shamed their families then to blame the government or corrupt corporations.

[formercia]

3. Losing one's job is losing face.

It's a sad situation.

[derby378]

12. I remember the Japanese concept of the "madogiwadozu"

It's basically a position at the company that comes with diminished responsibilities and an office with a window so you can gaze out at the city below.

There are two types of employees who receive the madogiwadozu. The first type is the long-term employee who, despite a long history with the company in good standing, can't bring himself to retire. So his supervisor pats him on the back, reassigns him to the office with the nice window, and lets him continue through the workday with less paperwork and fewer deadlines.

The second type of employee who winds up in the madogiwadozu is the sales rep who loses one account too many, the engineer whose shoddy design triggers a global recall, or anyone who causes the company in question to lose serious face. It is, to quote Michael Crichton, "a corporate death sentence."

[Mojorabbit]

4. A lovely people though

I lived there three years in the late 70's early 80's. A long colorful history. You see suicides reported for this reason though in India and in the US too. Something is so wrong when we let our job define us.

[Jennicut]

6. I had a good friend that I worked with who was Japenese

She told me a lot about the customs and general attitudes of the country...and she made me great food!

[Tim01]

5. You do have to get fed somehow though.

What is your idea of a better existence, that is actually doable by the average person.

[Mojorabbit]

7. Of course we need sustenance

And satisfaction of a job well done is a wonderful thing. When your self identity is so intertwined with the work you do that life is not worth living is when there is a problem. I learned this the hard way when I was diagnosed with MS.

I had been a nurse for years and it was what I wanted to do from when I was a child. I loved it. I lost it. It was a very difficult adjustment. Around that time I also lost religion. I also wanted with all my heart to be a mother but was infertile and the state would not let me adopt before I was diagnosed because the only available children were black and at the time they were not doing mixed adoptions and then after diagnosis a definite no. A near divorce peeled back the layer that defined my role in a relationship and my self identity as a wife. I lost my identity as an independent woman and had to learn to depend on others gracefully.

As the layers peeled away I got closer to the person I really am if that makes sense. Now I do wildlife rehab in my home as a subpermittee with a wildlife center, I volunteer when I can, I have a wonderful relationship with my husband and family and friends, and I know that so many things that I thought were absolutely necessary to me for my well being were not so necessary after all. Life is full of continuous rebirths and humans have the capacity to evolve and grow emotionally/spiritually throughout it.

Some support for those going through the turmoil is what is needed. If I were Queen of the World that would be one of my first priorities in these hard times, to make sure that people felt valued when it seems to them their whole world has fallen apart and when they feel as though they have failed. To have emotional and physical support till they could get back on their feet.

Just my thoughts on this first day of spring.

[MedleyMisty]

8. I wish I could rec a reply.

Thank you.

[madokie]

10. Oh and what good thoughts they are

I'll be having a better day now. :hi:

[Karenina]

11. Thank you for your wonderful post, Mojorabbit!

:hi::hug::hi:

[Stevenmarc]

9. Maybe the AIG execs can go there for a one way corporate retreat