Thread by @InsiderAsia

Japan appointed a "Minister of Loneliness" this month to tackle the country's rising suicide rates. Here’s a thread 👇
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During the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020, with people more socially isolated than ever, Japan saw a rise in suicides for the first time in 11 years, particularly among women.
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In October, more people died from suicide than had died from COVID-19 in Japan in all of 2020 so far. There were 2,153 suicide deaths that month and 1,765 total virus deaths up to the end of October 2020, per the Japanese National Police Agency.
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Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga appointed Tetsushi Sakamoto, who is already a minister in charge of dealing with Japan's declining birthrate and promoting regional revitalization, to oversee government policies to deal with loneliness and isolation.
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Loneliness has long been an issue in Japan, often discussed alongside "hikikomori," or people who live in extreme social isolation.
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People have worked to create far-ranging solutions to this issue. Engineers in Japan previously designed a robot to hold someone's hand when they're lonely.
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The United Kingdom was the first country to appoint a loneliness minister in 2018, after a 2017 report found that more than nine million people in the UK said they often or always felt lonely. Australia has considered creating a similar position.
insider.com/japan-minister…