The Japanese Connection.

I’ve mentioned before on this blog that the Japanese have a word for suicide triggered by the stress of overwork. They call it karojisatsu. They also have an umbrella term for all premature deaths triggered by work stresses. They call that one karoshi. Today I read that the most popular day of the year for teenage suicides in Japan is 1^st September. It’s said to be due to its being the start of the academic year. So now I’m asking myself whether this is some vindication for my opinion that Big Capitalism is the major pestilence of the 21^st century, and that we in the ‘developed’ world place too much emphasis on education. The question is currently stewing in the pressure cooker that is my mind.

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Several times in my life I’ve drawn the metaphorical sword and taken arms against those I considered to be guilty of iniquities. I lost some, but probably won slightly more. By and large, the wins came in skirmishes against relatively independent bodies such as local authorities and housing associations. But I learned that there’s little point in entering the fray against the corporate world because it has an army of politicians and bureaucrats at its back and is too big an enemy for one lone combatant to defeat, however much he holds the moral, ethical, or rational high ground. It’s all to do with power feeding power. Today one denizen of the corporate world openly lied to me in furtherance of its attempt to bend me to its will, but what can I do except decline to be bent for as long as the concomitant stress remains manageable? It's all becoming too tedious, and INFJs are said to be particularly averse to conflict.

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To return to the Japanese connection, a few notes off the top of my head:

Of all the major countries in the world, Japan is probably the one that has visited this blog the least.

Half of one of my top three favourite films (Hanami: Kirchbluten) – and the half which most captured my heart – is set in modern day Japan.

I discovered the most delightful YouTube channel recently in which a young Japanese woman currently living in London relates her experiences and the matter of life in general with quiet and commendable wisdom.

My current reading is a Japanese novel called Kafka on the Shore by Haruki Murakami. It’s high on keen observation.

My current coffee is Japanese. I’ve never had Japanese coffee before. (I didn’t even know there was any such thing as Japanese coffee.) It’s from the Ueshima Coffee Company and the blend I have is called Fuji Mountain – Strength 5. It’s expensive (and from Sainsbury’s, believe it or not), but excellent.

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And that will do for tonight. My depressions are particularly deep and enervating these days, and the aches in my back and legs consequent upon last Sunday’s ladder incident are getting worse. Still awaiting the results of my last CT scans. Fifteen days and counting. Will post here when known, just in case anybody other than me is interested.