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SHADOW OF AFFLUENCE, SOCIETY-PRESSURE, SEPPUKU, MANNERS & CUSTOM

High suicide rate: Since 1997, 30,000 people per year take their own lives.

Japan has the 2nd highest GNP and is the 2nd wealthiest country in the world.

BLADE CULTURE RAGE

When the vast amount of embedded rage spews out from the, typically well mannered, emotionally restrained masses in Japan; it takes the form of bloody blade culture, a profound symbolic weapon in its history and mythology. Guns are rigidly controlled here. But there is an obsession with weapons. Immaculate replica gun shops are common.

There is an increasing trend of gratuitous violence suddenly erupting like underground lava. Very plutonic, by nature, Japan is a volcanic island, with immense geothermal intensity, which resonates thru the industrious disciplined structure of its society. Raw emotions coagulate underground in the collective psyche. These visceral feelings constellate around mythological narratives and themes, as in manga, anime, and horror film genres copious with blood.

When people crack and psychotically vent their inflamed, buried anger, it often takes the form of extreme acts with sadistic twists. Recently a man murdered his neighbour, a lady in her 20s. He cut up her body into small pieces and flushed it down the toilet. Yesterday an enraged man frustrated with the world, went on a rampant killing spree, ramdomly knifing innocent people in the packed main street of Akihabara, leaving 7 dead and 10 wounded.

Themes of violence and blood letting as well as sex deeply stir human passions. They are dominant themes in manga and anime, as examined in my film, 'Manga Mad', a doco in which I shot alot of footage in Akihabara. Definitely the most extreme hyper spatial, electro, virtual reality media zone in the world. I brought up the question of violence during my interviews for the film.

Commentators were adamant that Japan is one of the most peaceful countries and that the extreme acts in the virtual world of media such as manga don't actually happen in society. For a large population, Japan is  very well behaved and 'safe'; but it is changing, and such cathartic murderous acts like yesterday are increasing. Not just here, but world wide, including countries like Sweden with its generous social welfare system. My birth country, New Zealand, 4 million population, surprising for most foreigners, is one of the most violent countries, also volcanic by nature.