Mental Health in Japan: Intersecting Risks in the Workplace

Abstract

Japanese culture tends to value group harmony and social conformity. The work culture in Japan reflects this belief system, evidenced by behaviors including working significant amounts of overtime, which is often unpaid, and taking minimal vacation. Japan also has a relatively recent history of economic instability, coupled with negative perceptions of being fired or unemployed, which creates heightened perceived pressures to fit in as an employee. These pressures, on top of tendencies to overwork, translate into an increased risk of stress and other mental health issues, which studies of prevalence have verified. Furthermore, structural and cultural stigma against mental illness and treatment in Japan acts as a barrier to addressing mental health risks among Japanese workers. In recent decades, the Japanese government has stepped up efforts to improve its mental health care system, resulting in some promising improvements, particularly pertaining to suicide prevention. However, initiatives to improve mental health at the workplace are new, underdeveloped, and currently lack scope and empirical-basis. For Japanese workers, work culture, financial insecurity, and stigma are three intersecting mental health risk factors that can be used as a framework for targeted improvements.

Public Stigma Related to People With Mental Health Conditions Among Japanese Company Employees

“…In addition, other than the Japanese government’s renaming schizophrenia in 2002 [ 8 ], none of the mental health initiatives have directly targeted mental illness stigma. This lack of direct efforts to address stigma at the national level [ 44 ] may explain the absence of improvement in the social distance concerning mental illness. Therefore, governments should adopt direct initiatives and interventions targeting the stigma of mental illness beyond office workers and high-school students.…”

Cultural implications in the acceptability of game-based learning

“…For example, South Asian immigrant parents often view their children as integral to increasing family pride and view education as a tool to advance their social status (Bhattacharya & Schoppelrey, 2004;Saw et al, 2013). The work-related structures of society can also serve to create negative subjective norms on gaming which could potentially inhibit GBL adoption; games could be viewed as a waste of time in countries where children work at an early age or where there is a strong work culture, such as Kenya and Japan respectively (Messenger, 2004;Pilla & Kuriansky, 2018;Super & Harkness, 1986). Immigrants from these countries tend to emphasize their children learning academic skills as a parallel to working (Chao, 1996).…”