The apostolic nuncio in Japan, Archbishop Alberto Bottari de Castello, head of the Tokyo nunciature for 5 years, tells us: "The Japanese do not have a personal relationship with God. The concept of the individual, which is at the center of western culture, is not part of their cultural DNA. They identify themselves with the group, the society, the company, the nation. When a Christian arrives at the decision to take his life, he knows that he is about to violate a sacred law: life was given to him by God, and only God can take it away. The Japanese tempted by suicide does not have this obstacle. He does not have the concept of sin. He has no one, he has nothing, beyond his own material and cultural world, to ask for help. But in his world, asking for help is dishonorable, and so he himself must resolve the drama of his unhappiness, which has become unbearable. Christians, even at the darkest moments, can always reach out to God. The Japanese cannot. They have eight million gods, thousands of marvelous temples, shrines, altars, miniature altars, two official religions, Buddhism and Shintoism, but they live without the one omnipotent and merciful God, without the concept of God as father of all humanity and present in each one of us, always."
Hiroko Nakamura, a respected translator of Italian fiction books, does not believe that the relative ease with which the Japanese reach the decision to give up on life is to be attributed to their apparent atheism: "On the contrary, I think that it is precisely our most widespread religious creed, Buddhism, that makes the idea of suicide acceptable as an extreme solution of our earthly problems, both material and spiritual. Buddhism preaches reincarnation, meaning the transfer of an individual's soul into another physical body, not necessarily human. Life is considered a training ground for a new life, moving from one existence to another toward nirvana, the eternal heavenly beatitude. With this faith, when the pressure of the problems of life seems unbearable, it is easier to give in to the temptation to leave everything behind, and to try to do better in the next existence. Buddha, Jesus, Saint Francis, Gandhi, we knew them in their last existence, before their entry into nirvana."
From Sandro Magister's latest column: Why Life is Worth So Little in Prosperous Japan
Hiroko Nakamura, a respected translator of Italian fiction books, does not believe that the relative ease with which the Japanese reach the decision to give up on life is to be attributed to their apparent atheism: "On the contrary, I think that it is precisely our most widespread religious creed, Buddhism, that makes the idea of suicide acceptable as an extreme solution of our earthly problems, both material and spiritual. Buddhism preaches reincarnation, meaning the transfer of an individual's soul into another physical body, not necessarily human. Life is considered a training ground for a new life, moving from one existence to another toward nirvana, the eternal heavenly beatitude. With this faith, when the pressure of the problems of life seems unbearable, it is easier to give in to the temptation to leave everything behind, and to try to do better in the next existence. Buddha, Jesus, Saint Francis, Gandhi, we knew them in their last existence, before their entry into nirvana."
From Sandro Magister's latest column: Why Life is Worth So Little in Prosperous Japan
