Is it close to loneliness and isolation ~ the impact of the increase in suicides ~ | NHK political magazine

In the case of the long-term coronal scourge of "sudden arrival of loneliness", the government began to deal with the problem of loneliness and isolation. However, loneliness also has different ways of feeling from person to person. I was also judged to be "very lonely", calculated by a certain index. Attempts to digitize loneliness for support, as well as efforts to visualize the sounds received, have begun. (Junji Iwata)

In mid-February, the mobile phone of Tetsuji Sakamoto, the 100 million active minister, rang.

"Please come to me after the cabinet meeting tomorrow."

From Prime Minister Suga Yiwei.

The next day, Naoto Kan announced new responsibilities to Sakamoto, who visited the prime minister's official residence.

"I want you to be responsible for the problem of loneliness and isolation."

Naoto Kan believes that the impact of the new corona continues to reduce the chances of contact with people, and the problem of loneliness and isolation in society is becoming more and more serious, so he decided to set up a minister, and the arrow of Baiyu appeared in Sakamoto.

According to reports, Naoto Kan judged the background is the increase in suicides. The number of suicides in China last year was 20, 1081. In 2009, shortly after the Lehman Brothers crisis, it increased for the first time in 11 years.

Sakamoto described the reasons why Naoto Kan began to take countermeasures. "perhaps it should be said that the decline in the number of suicides that has lasted for 10 years as a result of the coronal disaster has turned into an increasing impact, and the impact is still very big. If you leave it like this, you can't stop it. This is the unique intuition of Prime Minister Kan and politicians. "

Sakamoto, who was appointed minister, is said to have experienced a deep sense of loneliness and isolation. This is the Kumamoto earthquake that occurred in his constituency in April five years ago. The violent shaking of magnitude 7 was observed twice in Yicheng-cho, Kumamoto Prefecture, resulting in a large number of victims.

"looking ahead, the house has collapsed in a state completely similar to ruins, the mountain has collapsed and the bridge is gone while driving. "because it is my constituency, the responsibility falls entirely on myself. I first felt the loneliness of hopelessness, "where should I start?"

In addition, in the recovery of cooperation with the state and counties, in addition to despair, there is also another type of emotion.

"I originally planned to do it with the country, county and town, but in addition, the residents also put forward all kinds of demands and demands. The problem of water, the problem of children going to school, the problem of care for the elderly. I want to do it myself, but everyone knows how much, no one will understand the sense of loneliness and isolation. "

Then, based on my own experience, I came up with an idea.

"one day, don't suddenly feel lonely." Completely lost self-confidence, where to find their own place, shelter. This kind of thing came all of a sudden, and so far everything has disappeared, as if it had become dark. It's really not going to happen all of a sudden. "

"be close to and support those who suffer from loneliness and isolation."

The policy of the government is very clear. In order to achieve support measures, the newly established Office of the head of the Cabinet Office decided to conduct a national investigation, which is the first time that the government has grasped the actual situation.

However, we are suddenly faced with a problem. "how do you measure the loneliness in which everyone feels differently?" this. Compared with many people having a lively life together, some people like to be alone, and there are many shops facing "one person" in the street. In addition, in the famous sayings of writers and philosophers, loneliness is often said to bring deep "nutrition" to life.

Of course, the loneliness that the government wants to support is obviously different from this loneliness.

Naoto Kan's reply in parliament is as follows: "We recognize that the problem of 'unwanted loneliness' has become more obvious due to the expansion of new coronal infections."

This is how Sakamoto explained. "some people like to be alone, while others may be lonely and want to exercise themselves. That is the loneliness of your choice, but 'unwanted loneliness' will end its life by itself in the worst case, or move on to something antisocial, which may turn into something like this. "

Is it the loneliness you want or the loneliness you are forced to be? how to judge this division? The office of the head of the Cabinet Office focuses on the "measure of loneliness of UCLA". It is said that American universities announced in 1978 have also been widely used in the international community. The indicator consists of the following 20 problem items:

"do you feel like you're not dating others?" do you feel left behind? "do you feel isolated?"

Answer these questions in four stages, score, and measure loneliness. The higher the score, the lonelier the loneliness. the highest score was 80, with more than 44 as "high loneliness" and less than 28 as "low loneliness".

I got the "measure of loneliness of UCLA" from the office of the person in charge, and I tried it. The result is 45 points. Was judged to be "very lonely".

I really tried it and got it for the first time. First of all, in the face of digitized loneliness, it will be hit accordingly.

Next, I want to deny. "I'm not alone."

Moreover, in the feeling of being lonely, there is also a kind of repulsive feeling. In fact, it is a state of loneliness, don't you just want to admit it?

With the pursuit of the prime minister's every move and various "prime minister" reporters as the center, the scale of loneliness has set off a quiet upsurge. Of the 17 journalists who tried to be judged as "very lonely", only five, including me.

"this is really a hoax." the more modest a person is, the higher the sense of loneliness will be. "when I chose, I thought of her" and other opinions and feelings.

The office of the person in charge of the Cabinet Office studied the questioning items of the national survey on the basis of this index. There has been a heated debate about the beginning of the survey in December, such as what language to ask questions and whether the results will be influenced by the number of items asked.

Sakamoto said the following words. "once the definition is decided, there will be leaks, so it's better to sum it up in terms of concepts. My idea is that it is better to take countermeasures on the basis of broad loneliness and isolation. "

The Government also attaches importance to cooperation with non-profit organizations and other civil society organizations. In addition to providing financial support to groups operating "children's canteens" and "food banks", as a bridge between administrative and non-governmental organizations, the former Vice Minister for Health and Labour Affairs, Mr. Houko Murako, and Mr. Osilian, corporate director of NPO, were employed as policy participants in the office. The aim is to get close to the support object with the help of the NPO and so on.

On the other hand, how does NPO view the status quo?

In order to prevent suicide, there are 24-hour NPO who receive counseling through chat. This is the "your place" represented by the lucky star in the fourth year of college. Since its establishment in March last year, more than 40,000 consultations have been handled.

Sky pointed out that with the protracted coronal disaster, the content of the consultation has also increased in severity.

"under the third state of emergency, the proportion of counseling about life and money has more than doubled compared with the first declaration last year. "I don't know how to eat tomorrow." such inquiries must be on the increase. "

NPO, from people who have expertise such as doctors and psychiatric clinical psychologists, has asked volunteers to consult people in a wide range of fields, such as local councillors and students. In addition, in order to receive counseling late at night when there are more suicides, Japanese consultants in 14 overseas countries use jet lag to cover the late night period in Japan.

About 600 SOS were received in the last day. NPO continues to classify and visualize the keywords contained in the consultation content by generation, which is called "word map". Teenagers are obviously "parents", "school", "class", "teacher", "money", "spirit", "work" and so on.

"what happened almost in real time is valuable data on the situation in Japan, and under the declaration of emergency, we can see exactly what impact it has had on children and why women in the company are upset."

Sky believes that it is necessary to share the sound collected on the scene with the administrative department and other NPO, and be helpful to the countermeasures.

"there are a lot of people who feel that relying on someone is a sense of 'shame' or 'loss' and can't make a voice on their own. We must play a role in country-specific systems and initiatives by visualizing the voices of people who are difficult to turn to. "

Minister Sakamoto also showed enthusiasm for NPO know-how and the use of data.

"in terms of strategies to prevent suicide, the practices of different NPO are also very different. In the future, in what form is the exchange of data possible, or can it be done in the form of a slow NPO consortium? I want to think about such a thing. "

On the other hand, there are repercussions from unexpected places. Sakamoto has successively received interviews from overseas media.

"while listening to the interview, it is still a common thing. Everyone is in the shell, inward, becoming a sense of blockage, and the negative psychological influence is spreading all over the world."

"in interviews with South Korean reporters, like Japan, I feel strongly that Confucian 'hard things have to be put up with'. In the United States, the division of society has something in common as well as something unique to those countries."

So far, Russia, Spain, South Korea and Sakamoto have responded to interviews with journalists from four countries in the United States, working with all countries to meet the common challenges of the world. I am said to have realized the importance of the measures taken by the orderers of each country facing individual problems.

Moreover, in order to find clues to further solutions, the object of cooperation is the UK.

Three years ago, Britain took the lead in setting up the "lonely bearing phase" in the world. Prime Minister May at that time, on the basis of believing that loneliness was a sad reality of modern society, called for concerted efforts to eliminate the loneliness held by the elderly, caregivers, those who lost their families and so on. In addition to setting up the first inspiration week for the whole country to deal with and talk about loneliness, the syllabus of primary and secondary schools has also included the study of loneliness. Sakamoto is holding online talks with the British minister, who is arguably a pioneer of loneliness, in mid-June to discuss and deliver a common message.

The lonely and isolated response of the government has just begun. On the other hand, the coronal disaster is still unpredictable.

I asked Sakamoto about his determination to face the problem.

"with the continuous evolution of technology, personal life will become more convenient, but on the other hand, the gap will also widen, and there will indeed be people who fall into social weakness and loneliness. For things that appear as the reaction to economic growth, how to lend a helping hand will become a political role. "

"by including private opinions, including NPO, in the decision-making process, activating meetings with provinces and strengthening horizontal ties, can we propose policies that are different from those in the past?"

Can we take the coronal disaster as an opportunity to get close to the lonely and isolated troubled people and come up with the support we really need? The seriousness of the regime will be tested. (salutation in the sentence)