Tetsushi Sakamoto, who has just been appointed Japan’s “Minister of Solitude”, announced at a press conference on the 16th that the Japanese government plans to set up an “Office for Solitude and Isolation Response” this week.
According to Kyodo News Agency of Japan, the office will draw about 10 staff from the Ministry of Health, Labour, the Ministry of Education, Culture, Culture, Science and Technology, the Cabinet and other departments.
According to the report, the top priority of the Japanese government is to grasp the specific number of people currently suffering from loneliness problems in order to work out a solution by June.
According to the data released by the Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare, the number of suicides in Japan reached an 11-year high last year, an increase of 3.7% to 20,900, and the number of child suicides reached a record 479 last year.
Affected by the coronavirus epidemic, the Japanese people have serious problems of loneliness or isolation.
After meeting with Tetsushi Sakamoto, the former Minister of Creation at his official residence on the 12th, Japanese Prime Minister Kan appointed him as the “Minister of Solitude and Isolation” to deal with the rising suicide rate and poverty during the epidemic.
Sakamoto will convene government departments and civil society to discuss the response strategy later this month.
It is reported that Japan is not the first country to establish a “lone minister”.
In 2018, former British Prime Minister Theresa May appointed the world’s first “Lonely Minister” to address the growing problem of loneliness in Britain.
