The Japanese Prime Minister has appointed a “minister of loneliness” in his cabinet in response to a recent rise in suicides.
Such as The Japan Times reportedPrime Minister Yoshihide Suga created the role in early February, following the UK, which created its own role in 2018.
Tetsushi Sakamoto will take on the role, the Times reported, while also taking into account the country’s declining birth rates and regional economies.
Figures from the National Police Agency showed that 20,919 people committed suicide in 2020, an increase of 750 from the previous year and the first consecutive rise in suicides in 11 years, the Times reported. According to the outlet, the increase is most noticeable in women and young people.
Suga told the country’s budget committee earlier this month that people from all walks of life are vulnerable, the Times reported.
The newspaper noted that Japan is familiar with loneliness, as kodokushi, or “solitary deaths,” are common. These are people who die in their homes and remain undiscovered for a long time.
Japan scored highest in terms of people 60 or older who felt they had no one to turn to in times of need, with 16 percent of people saying so, compared to 13 percent in the U.S.
The pandemic has exacerbated feelings of isolation worldwide. In the US, Nevada’s Clark County School District partially reopened schools in response to a spate of student suicides during the pandemic, with student suicides doubling from the previous year.