Japan Actors Union to Set Up Mental Health Services for Actors and Voice Actors

Content Warning: Mention of suicide.

 

The Japan Actors Union, which has members that range from film stars to anime voice actors, held a conference on October 30 for all 2,600 members, which was later posted online. The NHK is reporting that during the conference, the union representatives announced that due to a negative response to a survey by the union, the union will be setting up mental health services for Japanese actors and voice actors.

 

Japan Actors Union Conference (via NHK)

 

The survey asked members "Do you want to die due to work?" with around 30% of the responders, or 48 people, saying "yes." When pressed on what was causing them to have these feelings, the actors said that the emotions were caused by "long working hours" and "harassment."

 

Due to this response from their members, the Japan Actor Union will be setting up a method for actors and voice actors can discuss their mental health. A psychiatrist who was participating in the conference discussed why a high percentage of actors felt this way, saying that "celebrities are constantly being judged on social media and are prone to extreme stresses such as restrictions on food and sleep, while at the same time, they're not able to talk to anyone about their problems, which can lead to suicide."

 

If you or anyone you know going through a tough time and feeling like it's too much, here are a list of numbers for hotlines around the world to ring to get the help you need.

 

Source: NHK

 

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Daryl Harding is a Japan Correspondent for Crunchyroll News. He also runs a YouTube channel about Japan stuff called TheDoctorDazza, tweets at @DoctorDazza, and posts photos of his travels on Instagram. 

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