August 19, 2010. This essay reflects on Japan’s tragedy: nearly four suicides every hour, while Tokyo’s media squanders energy and intellect. Behind the vampires of the capital lies a nation drained of life, where the joy of living is forgotten.

From the perspective of August 19, 2010, the author harshly criticizes the “waste of intellect” by Tokyo’s centralized media, sounding an alarm about the resulting despair and exhaustion in the country’s rural areas. As a message to those who have lost the will to live, the author argues that the root of their despair lies with an even greater “vampire,” urging them to recognize the preciousness of life.

2010/08/19

Even as I write this, there are people choosing to die. Nearly four people an hour. Are you looking at the sea? Are you looking at the mountains? Are you looking at the forest? I think this:

The media, especially the six TV networks concentrated in Tokyo, are an astonishing waste of energy and intellect. Behind that waste of energy and intellect are exhausted regions and a weary nation, And it is you who are dying. While those who flock here earn outrageous salaries and spout endless nonsense, You don’t even have enough money to make tomorrow just a little bit more fun.

And so, you lose the wonderful joy of being alive in this truly bountiful world, You lose the peace of mind to wait for the day of your death, which comes to everyone, Even though living and thinking until that day comes is what life is all about. Even though that is all life is.

Life is a truly wonderful thing, but you feel that you have lost everyone who would turn to you with a little money, a little love, or a smile, and so You are choosing to die. With everything drained from you by the vampires in Tokyo.

But I want to tell you this: These vampires in Tokyo are also just big fools whose lives and intellects are being drained by an even greater vampire, so you don’t need to choose to die.

If you just want to be embraced by the sea, mountains, and forests where you were born and die, Then I will simply shed tears in front of you.