/lit/ - Literature

>>16808475
Considering the life of the average japanese salaryman I can't say I'm surprised.

>>16808475
Did COVID even have an impact in Japan?

>>16808505
Actually did COVID have an impact comparable to any other major cause of death? I'm sure suicide claims more lives than COVID year-wide in pretty much any country.

>>16808475
They’re not anti-natalists. They’re depressed and lonely, you fucking sperg.

>>16808505
Did it have an impact anywhere? The impact caused by COVID is almost entirely the result of lockdowns and not the actual virus itself. OP is right. COVID is the biggest “we live in a society” moment in recent memory.

>>16808475
What a baity title. Japan is in like the 99th percentile in how well it handled Covid. If it handled it as poorly as the US, THEN this would be alarming news.

>>16808537
>Mainstream media company was deceptive and manipulated reality for attention
And nobody was surprised.

>>16808515
Suicide deaths in the US in 2018 were ~48k, COVID deaths in the US is currently at ~247k.

>>16808475
Mainlander was a weak-willed pussy who lacked discipline and strength to change.

>>16808632
>COVID deaths in the US is currently at ~247k.
You mean every person who sneezed sometime before dying?

>>16808808
Sorry, the source was the Jew York Times, I'm too lazy to look up another source that is reputable.

>>16808632
source: governments ass.

>>16808475
It literally boils down to one thing, which is that the Japanese, despite MASSIVE attempts by their government and media to push for the contrary, still consider suicide to be honorable, and something that would cause your family to weep with pride, not sorrow or shame.

I.E., if you feel like a worthless failure in America, killing yourself is basically telling your parents that you hate them, whereas in Japan it is telling your parents that you love them. And this is a huge distinction. If I had been raised in a society like that, I'd be dead all else remaining equal.

>>16808505
It shut down anime for a few months but Japan got it under control fairly easy. Being an island is a fairly big advantage when it comes to shutting your borders and containing the virus

>>16808632
No fewer than 80% and as many as 94% of COVID deaths in the US were comorbidities, which basically means people like Herman Cain who had stage 3 cancer got Wu Flu and then died. There are also ridiculous instances like people dying in motorcycle accidents but then getting claimed for government subsidies because they tested positive for the disease.

Basically it's the medical industry in the US scamming the government for money. Again. Actual deaths where someone got the disease and died of it exclusively or in comorbidities expectable of their age/demographic were about 6% of that total. The Japanese do not say that a guy who had COVID but was also a type 3 diabetic and died of a heart attack died of COVID.

So, in the US, according to the standards that the Japanese use, they had about 14k deaths. This also holds true in a bunch of third world countries that didn't have much testing (like the US lol) because most of the people who die of the disease were already in poor health and dying of something else.

>>16810549
Something tells me you're not japanese. Where do you get this idea?

Daily reminder the fatality rate below age of 70 is 0.02%
Also look at this, pneumonia is killing just as many people as covid

>>16810592
I just said I wasn't, but I tried talking to some kids about it in college and that's the impression I got. The Japanese cultural bent is (or was 20 years ago) that killing yourself was not a selfish act. Since a great many people who survive or back down of suicide say that the reason they didn't go all the way was that they felt extreme guilt for hurting their loved ones, I interpret this as being a cultural thing.

>>16810587
Theres a covid testing centre near my house, drive in drive out kind of deal. At any given time during the day there are at least 30 cars lined up along the street to get in. Over the span of two months I dont even know if that many people live in this area...
The same traffic controllers standing outside all day every day in very little protective equipment. Sure they wear a mask, but the dude has been wearing the exact same beanie for over a month now.
The government subsidy for a test is $100 last I saw, up from $24. I wonder what its at now. Either way they have two hundred people passing through a day, 20k, pay traffic controllers $20 an hour, pay the test monkeys (all flips and indians) $20 an hour. Making a killing.

>>16810549
Also, Americans tend to commit suicide because they are mentally ill and self-absorbed cunts whereas Europeans do it usually over existential reasons (e.g., cosmic meaninglessness).
If anything, Americans committing suicide is a good thing. We can always use less jackasses in this world.

>>16810655
Do you have a source for this?

>>16808505
Yes, it had a huge impact. It cancelled the massive event, the Olympics, that the Japanese people have been anticipating and getting excited over for years. This undoubtedly sunk morale. People are wondering if the Games will ever happen.

>>16808475
The reason why that is is because Japan isn't full of communists and anarchist douchebags like America and Europe are so they don't have a problem with some of their people exploiting the situation to make a buck, and most actually practice social distancing there (they even did it before covid-19 was a thing).

>>16810680
>they even did it before covid-19 was a thing

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E7kor5nHtZQ

Yeahhhhhh...

Whats happening in Vietnam? They have fuck all covid deaths and it doesnt seem like they went into a full lockdown or anything.

>>16810701
Shills will tell you that it's because they just totally handled it super well, even though they mostly live in unsanitary population dense cities. In reality, it's just another sign that COVID is a political tool being utilized in the West and not actually a big threat.

>pic related; concert in taiwan that took place this weekend

>>16810694
I meant they already wore masks when they got sick. The concept of "do what you can to prevent spreading sickness" was already a thing.

>>16810724
How is Taiwan a tool of the West?

>>16810724
I know it's all bullshit but I don't understand why Europe or the US would cause such damage to themselves.
This isn't just pushing propaganda, this is stuff that will never see a comeback. The economic consequences will be a disaster. What's the plan?

>>16810724
Nigeria as well is doing very good in this 'crisis'. Lagos that slum shithole has a population of nine million but only 220 people have died from covid. Australia for example has about twice the population but over four times the number of deaths. And we dont have a population destiny of 6,871 residents per square kilometer. Sydney is 430 person per square km.

>>16810738
Anon said covid is a political tool used in the west, and used the concert in taiwan as evidence that people can congregate and not kill everyones grandma.

>>16810738
Taiwan doesn't need to be ideologically subverted like the West does, when the time comes they will just be annexed by China. If the West is taken over by an international group in allegiance with China, then there will be nobody to protect Taiwan anyway.

>>16810756
>What's the plan?
The Great Reset. Not a conspiracy theory, but an actual initiative being openly pushed by the World Economic Forum. Google it. It is described as a "radical transformation of capitalism". IMO, it will simply be an attempt to do away with personal and economic freedoms and push towards a Chinese model of government in the West. Things will become more authoritarian, with things such as the Chinese social credit system being introduced.

>>16810774
But the concert in Taiwan can take place because Taiwan has basically no covid cases. It is logic that they succeeded in containing it because they're a small island and acted quickly, I don't see the necessity for a conspiracy there.

>>16810777
Fair enough. I could understand a conspiracy where this is a ploy to benefit China because it started there and just happens to be working out extremely well for them.

Add: Like every other crisis before, reallocation of capital. Hotels for example having to close down after bankrupcy and then being bought by "international investors".
Small and middle businesses having to close down, handing over market share to the big players

>>16810799
>I could understand a conspiracy where this is a ploy to benefit China

I think the people behind this initiative have been aligned with China for a long time. They want to cripple the West to prove a point. They want to convince the public that a system based on personal liberty is broken, and that we should voluntarily hand more control over to the government.

i hate /pol/ so fucking much

>>16810799
Its not just to benefit China. Amazon has been posting record quarter after quarter this year, highest since the company was created.

>>16810823
Ive seen a lot of independent petrol stations shut down only for chains such as BP and Caltex to open in their place.

>>16810823
Just imagine Christmas this year. It will be Amazon's best year ever while the few remaining small businesses that deal with toys and gifts will close their doors for good. I'm not gonna support that consumerist garbage holiday anymore if it just means a day where we all send our money to the richest guy in the world.

>>16810853
Unironically, Jeff Bezos, Jimmy Kimmel, and Bill Gates need to get forcibly taken by BBC. Their high-pitched squeals will fill all the nations with glee.

>>16810825
pol hates you too

What are you talking about. That is just the outcome of the fact that they rushed into modernity without the proper social process to organize according to industry's demands. They kept their traditional social structure and simply increased its scale instead of changing the logic of the whole organization.

That is why people kill themselves: industry breaks collective life and leaves everyone just there, without the social guidance that organized every aspect of life in preindustrial times. Facing that social void, you either destroy yourself or try to destroy the world that is depriving you from a fulfilling collective life, which is a natural human need.

That's actually happening everywhere, in different forms specific to each place. I'd say that the suicide thing in Japan is just a social mechanism to keep the majority in line, an implicit message saying: ''if you dont work and live as everyone else does, death is the only alternative''.

The hikikomori thing is also a consequence of this: parents keep human pets to keep their mental stability, based on the needs they inherited from the traditional mode of life, and thus be able to go to work in an industrial world that is not only empty of social significance but also overdemanding, hence the dead from overwork phenomenon when people have nothing else than work in life.

This general mess is just Europe and its industry breaking social life everywhere in order to keep their global domination by blocking the social motion that makes societies evolve.

>>16808475
>Child suicides, while a much smaller portion of the total, are also higher.

...How does that even happen?

>>16810853
All the shops that will be closing down are in the hands of shitty people who would love to do what Jeff Bezos does. Not one store in my shitty city has not scammed me or mistreated me in some way.

>>16811061
probably children in bad homes who don't have a choice but to stay at home with their abusive parent(s).
it has been a huge problem in other countries, not sure about the whole suicide thing, though.

>>16811061
>...How does that even happen?
Pressure to do well in school. A lot of suicides among young people are due to that, because failing your grades means you will never get to a good university and you will never get in a company.

>>16808475
>“we live in a society”
Genuine question - what is the origin of this meme?

>>16811110
It's just a cliche, they don't have origins.

>>16811110
Gamer Joker

>>16811110
George Costanza

Is there contemporary literature that touches on this?

Japan just isn't testing because there isn't much reason to. There's no cure, and the recommended course of action is basically the same as the flu, i.e. stay home and recover. Their politicians aren't politicizing this virus like those in America or Europe.

>>16808537
More people dying of suicide than a disease that kills more than the common cold is still a big deal

why does western media like to pretend japanese suicide rate is particularly high and it's some big problem? it's not, it's barely 30th and barely above sweden and america. this is weeb shit. there is literally nothing notable about it. like how russia is 1st in male suicide but 31st in female.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_suicide_rate

>>16810937
except their suicide rate is about the same as america and not notable at all

>>16811461
Japan reports a lot of suicides as "natural deaths" to foreign press. Japan has a lot of issues you will never know about because they know the value of appearing as as perfect nation. They have a massive homelessness problem you will never hear about.

>>16811483
while this is true, even adding a lot more would not make them notable. and these articles as supposed to be based on what is known, from this is nothing notable yet they fellate the idea that it's some crazy pitable oriental problem.

>>16810587
Americans are by and large unhealthy. A large percentage of them have diabetes, heart disease, or obesity.

>>16811061
>>16811083
>>16811108
Not even jap but
My first suicide inclinations and near attempt was at age eleven.
I had average grades and got literally constantly told I was shit and a failure because of both those average grades and also just who I was.
I envisioned that if this is how my parents, who are supposed to love who you are, treat me, then the rest of the world must not have anything for me. And since I'm obviously not smart, work won't be good either.
The spooky part in hindsight is, every other thought and half-attempt (picking up a rope, planning, plotting a spot or method) was not as serene as that first.
I tried. Realized I needed to actually hang, I couldn't choke myself to death. Teacher walked in, asked if I was okay. She didn't see though the bathroom stall what I was doing.
Said I was fine, went back to class. Reason I went in was because I got a D on a quiz.

>>16808475
They've been reading too much Buddha.
>After Buddha was dead, they still showed his shadow in a cave for centuries -- a colossal, horrible shadow. God is dead, but given the way people are, there may still be caves for millennia in which his shadow is displayed. -- And we -- we must still defeat his shadow as well!”