Anonymous wrote:This report is indicative of how 'comfortable' Japanese prisons must be compared to american ones.
Imagine committing petty crime to keep going back to prison in the US, just to avoid loniless

I found it funny because one of my younger brothers was obsessed with media about how dangerous Japanese prisons were with the yakuza running them.

Do Japanese grandmothers have some superpower equivalent to la chancla where crime-hardened grown men flee when they see an angry old woman?

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This report is indicative of how 'comfortable' Japanese prisons must be compared to american ones.
Imagine committing petty crime to keep going back to prison in the US, just to avoid loniless

What do you mean? Loneliness can be a death sentence to some. Nobody wants to be alone. You know this because if one finds himself alone in a deserted island with no other human around they would freak out or go nuts

I’d be ok.

—Autistic

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This report is indicative of how 'comfortable' Japanese prisons must be compared to american ones.
Imagine committing petty crime to keep going back to prison in the US, just to avoid loniless

This is actually also a common phenomenon in the US

Not for loneliness but for shelter, food and healthcare.

For some its solitude, for others loneliness. I'm rarely interested in people but can see it as a problem for my husband though it was total opposite when we were younger.

Anonymous wrote:This report is indicative of how 'comfortable' Japanese prisons must be compared to american ones.
Imagine committing petty crime to keep going back to prison in the US, just to avoid loniless

This is actually also a common phenomenon in the US

Loneliness is already a huge problem in this country. It's just so common that no one reports on it.

Anonymous wrote:Well, I think multi-generational families in one house is MUCH more common in Asian than the US, and community is encouraged through all life stages in Japan in a way it's not in the US. So getting older and having fewer friends and family that only visits a couple times a year would hit harder in Japan than in the US.

For example, I've lived alone for 15 years and worked from home for five. With self-checkout in grocery stores and libraries, there are times when I only speak with people for an hour on Saturdays when I volunteer and otherwise don't talk directly to anyone. Yet I'm not lonely. But I'm also American, and have no expectations that anyone will reach out to socialize with me because I might be lonely.

Your comfort with being alone probably has more to do with your personality than with being American. Some people, no matter what their country of origin, cannot handle being alone and some people can.

Loneliness is a problem for people who are extroverted and love to be around other people all the time. People who are more reserved and quiet have a comfort level with being alone and so don’t feel loneliness and the anxiety that goes with that feeling in the same way.

In general, more people are extroverts than introverts, and my guess is that this is true across nationalities. Loneliness is a problem for people who are extroverts, regardless of nationality. Introverts are less likely to have the problems that come with loneliness because they don’t have as negative a reaction to being alone as extroverts have.

Anonymous wrote:This report is indicative of how 'comfortable' Japanese prisons must be compared to american ones.
Imagine committing petty crime to keep going back to prison in the US, just to avoid loniless

What do you mean? Loneliness can be a death sentence to some. Nobody wants to be alone. You know this because if one finds himself alone in a deserted island with no other human around they would freak out or go nuts

Anonymous wrote:This report is indicative of how 'comfortable' Japanese prisons must be compared to american ones.
Imagine committing petty crime to keep going back to prison in the US, just to avoid loniless

Once upon a time I was a social worker and spent some time working in jails. There absolutely are people who reoffend after release because they prefer to be in jail than on the streets, although I’m more familiar with those who had previously served long sentences and jail life was “normal” and more stable/predictable than being out, particularly for those without familial support.

Anonymous wrote:This report is indicative of how 'comfortable' Japanese prisons must be compared to american ones.
Imagine committing petty crime to keep going back to prison in the US, just to avoid loniless

Very true.

Well, I think multi-generational families in one house is MUCH more common in Asian than the US, and community is encouraged through all life stages in Japan in a way it's not in the US. So getting older and having fewer friends and family that only visits a couple times a year would hit harder in Japan than in the US.

For example, I've lived alone for 15 years and worked from home for five. With self-checkout in grocery stores and libraries, there are times when I only speak with people for an hour on Saturdays when I volunteer and otherwise don't talk directly to anyone. Yet I'm not lonely. But I'm also American, and have no expectations that anyone will reach out to socialize with me because I might be lonely.

This report is indicative of how 'comfortable' Japanese prisons must be compared to american ones.
Imagine committing petty crime to keep going back to prison in the US, just to avoid loniless

If you have a birthrate of only 1.26 births/family and successive generations are smaller...well, this is what happens.

It's humorous that others mention how Asian cultures take care of their elders.

I am Japanese. My grandparents were both in nursing homes, visited regularly by their local children. My father, the "rich" expat, paid for the nursing homes. It was a good arrangement. The epidemic of loneliness, apart from the obvious issue with lifespan and lack of services for the elderly, is also linked to country vs urban development. There is no work in the countryside. People leave to work in the large cities, and then can't come back regularly to check on their elderly parents. This is a problem everywhere.

A combination of their children not caring and other factors, some elderly people in Japan are committing crimes so they can go to prison to find companionship. I am familiar with Japan as we go there for 8 weeks once per year. I think this report just scratched the surface of the loneliness issue in Japan. I wonder how long before this becomes an issue here. Some of you will argue because of the supremacy of American culture and interpersonal superiority this will never be an issue in America or you. Personally, i think rampant loneliness and disconnected will have a more dire effect in this society, if not already. Community is not a priority here, at least that’s the position of a East European acquaintance




https://www.cnn.com/2025/01/18/asia/japan-elderly-largest-womens-prison-intl-hnk-dst/index.html?Date=20250121&Profile=cnn&utm_content=1737449283&utm_medium=social&utm_source=instagram