Japan: Minister of loneliness tackles mental health crisis
Increasing social and economic isolation is causing Japan s suicide rate to climb, with working women and single mothers most at risk. The newly appointed minister of loneliness plans to alleviate this phenomenon. The number of single households and hikikomori social recluses has been increasing rapidly
Japan has welcomed the appointment of its first minister tasked specifically with combating the country s loneliness and isolation crisis which has exacerbated during the coronavirus pandemic.
In response to worrying figures on suicide and social withdrawal, Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga assigned 71-year-old Tetsushi Sakamoto to the newly created post in February.
As Japanese junior school children start the new academic year, they will all be carrying a piece of equipment that has its roots in Europe but is now a rite of passage. Julian Ryall reports from Tokyo.