Muen Shakai
- An isolated society in which there are weak personal links between individuals -
From “Kazenoko Letter” No.390 - July 2010
| There was a documentary, “Muen Shakai” broadcasted by the NHK (Japanese Broadcasting Corporation) a while back.
It reported 32,000 of unidentified collapse-related deaths during the space
of one year. This illustrates the collapse of old family ties. Supportive relationships such as those in the community or between relatives have weakened. In recent years, people are refusing to accept condolence money for funerals. This might be because they want to avoid the trouble of reciprocating a kindness, but relationships seem to be becoming more formal. Data predicts that in 2030, one quarter of females and one third of males will be unmarried. This will cause an expansion of the “Muen Shakai”. Other than familial bonds, there used to be good relationships within a company. People worked in the same company for their whole lifetime, helping each other, and some coworkers’ families were even close. Now, the percentage of young people with stable full-time jobs is low, and the percentage of dispatch workers is high, resulting in an increasingly unpleasant working environment. I’m aware of the horrors of the same old reports of a parent abusing their child to death, or a child getting tired of taking care of their parent and killing them. It is hard not to have someone whom you can depend on or talk to when faced with an unhappy incident or trouble, because nuclear families have replaced extended families, and relationships between family members are weakening. Our guardians association is organized by guardians or parents who have a common background, raising a child while both guardians work. I hope that the organization becomes more than an organized group that holds annual events, to one where people can become close and offer support through life’s difficulties. This is just one small movement to free ourselves from a “Muen Shakai”, but I hope the work of our center and guardian association can provide emotional support to each guardian. |
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