Japan and Happiness: Updated May 31, 2024.

 

Only 57% of Japanese feel 'happy,' 3rd lowest rate among 30 countries: survey

Article Source: https://mainichi.jp/english/articles/20240524/p2a/00m/0na/010000c

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Ideas:

There is this idea or stereotype that Asian societies place more emphasis on wealth and what it takes to be wealthy and successful and happiness is not high on the list.

All of the above ideas/reasons might be true, it still comes down to each individual person regarding happiness, but we live in the 21st century with globalization in most of the world today, and people can see what other feel and do and that could influence the people in how they think.

Asian societies, for the most part, still place emphasis on sacrifice and getting ahead even if that means not being happy.

To be fair, even though a sample group of 2,000 is still statistically significant, just 2,000 really doesn't say that much. 

Maybe 57% is still good, as maybe its impossible to expect to get 100% of people happy about all things in an society or an economy.

Its no surprise that South Korea too, was at the bottom as, for the most part, South Korea is all about wealth and status and getting to the top. South Korea, in the OECD, has one of the highest, if not the highest suicide rates among young people, as they have to be perfect in everything, grades, university,  job, marriage, house, and so on. 

All of the above for Japan might be true as with South Korea as most/many in South Korean society.

In todays world, in many societies and economies, there is just too much stress related to many things compared to 10, 20, 30 or 50 years ago. There are just too many distractions and other things that people can be unhappy about.

Some might say life was simpler many years ago, but people back in the day had their own set of factors that could make them unhappy, but today the variables that can make people unhappy seem to be out of control, and many people are overwhelmed with all of the factors in society that they have to deal with.

Not to talk too much about it but mental health, these days, its a major challenge for all societies, as more and more people are experiencing mental health challenges as the factors, again, they have to deal with can be overwhelming for many.

Again, maybe the variables mentioned above were present back in the day, but with today's media and other things, the variables can seen overwhelming to many in society.

There is no easy answer to being happy or how to make an society all happy and what has the Netherlands done, what has Mexico done, what has Indonesia done in their societies that makes most people happy.   

Have a nice day and be safe!