Telephone Hotlines for Men in Japan

The purposes of this study were to identify telephone hotline programs specifically for men in Japan and to describe their structure, characteristics, and practices. Using the internet and snowball sampling, we identified 17 telephone hotlines. The hotlines were established within approximately the past 10 years. Callers learn about the hotlines from a variety of sources, including government and private websites, newspapers, doctors, and callers’ family members. Programs are largely staffed by volunteer and paid male staff with either non-professional or professional backgrounds. The hotlines are typically open about 6 hours per month. They provide free support resources, including psychological counseling, information, and referral to relevant legal and other organizations. These findings are discussed in the context of traditional Japanese cultural values about gender and helping. By considering how belief and value systems are accommodated and assimilated by culturally diverse individuals and groups, telephone hotlines and self-help/mutual-aid groups can be more effective. Japan faces social and health problems related to interpersonal violence that until recently have not been widely discussed. The number of reported domestic violence incidents, child maltreatment, elder abuse, other violent crimes and suicide are significantly increasing every year in Japan (Gender Equality Bureau, Cabinet Office, 2005; Kobayashi, 2004; Ministry of Health, Labor, and Welfare, 153 2009, Baywood Publishing Co., Inc. doi: 10.2190/SH.5.2.c http://baywood.com 2005a, 2005b; Ministry of Justice, 2007). As with violent crime in other countries, men in Japan are far more likely to perpetrate most of these forms of violence than women. One distinctive aspect of male violence in Japan which raises concern is the rate of suicide. The prevalence of suicide among men is roughly twice as high in Japan than the United States and many industrially advanced countries in Europe. The suicide incidence of Japanese in 2004 was 35.6 for males and 12.8 for females per 100,000 (WHO, 2007). Today, Japan has the third highest incidence of male suicide and the second highest of female suicide in the world (Ministry of Health, Labor, and Welfare, 2005a). People in Japan are approximately five times as likely to commit suicide as to be killed in a traffic accident (Curtin, 2004). Not only is the number of men who commit suicide increasing, but also those that injure or kill others, most typically family members. For instance, 26,569 child maltreatment cases were reported in 2003 while just 1,101 cases were reported in 1990 (Ministry of Health, Labor, and Welfare, 2005b). According to the Ministry of Health, Labor, and Welfare (2004), most reported child abuse incidents are perpetrated by biological parents (53.8% by biological mothers and 18.2% by biological fathers). The number of reported domestic violence cases has also significantly increased in recent years. While only 309 incidents were reported in 1996, 1,255 cases were reported in 2007 (Gender Equality Bureau, Cabinet Office, 2008). In a survey of randomly selected married individuals over the age of 20 (n = 2,328), approximately one out of three (33.2%) females had experienced at least one incident of domestic violence in their lifetime, and 10% reported experiencing violence consistently at home (Gender Equality Bureau, Cabinet Office, 2006a). The number of arrests for domestic violence in 2006 increased 26.4% from 2005. One out of three males (35.1%) reports perpetrating violence against their partners (Gender Equality Bureau, Cabinet Office, 2003). The rates of domestic and family violence appear to be increasing significantly in Japan, though greater social acceptance of reporting victimization, improvement in authorities’ response to victims, and a resulting increase in willingness to report victimization may account for some of the change in violence statistics. The current scope of interpersonal and family violence in Japan is beyond that which can be addressed by the resources accessible through existing healthcare systems. Additional preventive programs and services such as self-help/ mutual-aid groups and telephone hotlines could help address the specific needs and experiences of men that underlie suicide and other forms of male violence (Mankowski & Silvergleid, 1999-2000). However, significant cultural barriers need to be addressed in the development of specific programs and services to assist Japanese men, such as self-help groups (Oka, 1994). In particular, self-help group formation and participation by men in Japan is at odds with Japanese cultural values and gender role expectations that emphasize the importance of men’s internal strength (Sugihara & Katsurada, 2002). These role expectations 154 / MARUYAMA AND MANKOWSKI