The Japanese prime minister has appointed a “lone minister” in his cabinet in response to a recent increase in suicides.
As The Japan Times report, Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga created the role in early February and took into account the UK, which created its own role in 2018.
Tetsushi Sakamoto will take on the role, reports the Times, while also dealing with the country’s declining birth rates and regional economy.
Figures from the National Police Agency showed that 20,919 people committed suicide in 2020, an increase of 750 people compared to the previous year and the first consecutive increase in suicides in 11 years, the Times reported. According to the outlet, the upswing is most noticeable among 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 ‘lonely deaths’, are common. It involves people dying inside their homes and remaining undiscovered for long periods of time.
Japan ranked highest in terms of people 60 years or older who felt they had no one in times of need, with 16 percent of the people saying it compared to 13 percent in the US
The pandemic has exacerbated feelings of isolation worldwide. In the U.S., the Clark County School District in Nevada reopened schools in part due to an increase in student murders during the pandemic, with the number of student murders doubling compared to the previous year.