In many Eastern countries, social pressures are put on everyday people not to be a “failure”. Things such as disappointing your family, performing poorly in academics, losing a job, and going into debt are examples of what can cause a person to become a failure. This leads to intense shame and guilt that’s often too much to bear, leading to a phenomenon called jōhastu, when people willingly evaporate from the world.

What is Jōhastu?

Jōhastu is a Japanese term that translates to English as evaporated, used to describe when people leave their lives behind without a trace. In 2018 about 85,000 people were reported to have gone missing in Japan with about 25,000 of them vanishing entirely (japanpi.com). This number has likely gone up in recent years due to COVID-19. There are many reasons a person might disappear, one of the most common ones is the guilt of being a failure after falling into debt, losing a job, or disappointing family. Japan isn’t the only place that experiences jōhastu; it happens worldwide, but Japan’s societal pressures and laws make jōhastu very prevalent within the country.

Why do People “Evaporate”?

There is a multitude of reasons why someone would “evaporate”, societal pressures being one of the most common reasons. In Japan’s society, there’s a constant pressure to not fail or disappoint those you know, oftentimes family being the ones people avoid disappointing the most. Because of this pressure put on Japanese citizens, it can be life-ruining to lose a job, fall into debt, or not be as successful as your peers. These events aren’t life-ruining because they happened, but because they would bring shame to their family. An example of this happening would be a man named Norihiro, who lost his job but was too ashamed to tell his family. He would dress up for work every day and drive in the direction of his old job but ended up spending the whole day in his car, to give the impression that he was working. When Norihiro wasn’t able to hide the fact that he lost his job from his family anymore, he committed jōhastu (Time.com).

Another reason that some commit jōhastu is because they wish to leave their marriage. In Japan, it is easier to simply leave a marriage rather than go through a divorce. It’s common for men who have found a mistress to commit jōhastu instead of going through a divorce. It is so common in fact that on Japan’s social media sites, there’s a hashtag called “#夫 蒸発” translating to missing husband (Japanpi.com). The wives of these husbands are often left with children they have no way of providing for with little help from the government to find their husbands or support their families.

Finding Missing People

About 80% of missing people in Japan are found within a week, but that still leaves about 25,000 to be missing every year (Japanpi.com). A large number of people who voluntarily go missing are never found due to Japan’s laws and government. Unlike in other countries, Japan has several privacy laws, especially with technology that makes it harder to track a person. Due to how hard it is to track a missing person in Japan, most law enforcement won’t track a missing person unless they have committed a crime. This forces many families or friends to turn to private investigators to find their loved ones, but many private investigators are expensive and not everyone can afford to hire one. Not only that but there are some companies called night moving companies that help people disappear (bbc.com). All of these factors make it incredibly hard for those who have committed jōhastu to be found.

Overall

Jōhastu is a tragic phenomenon in Japan, leading families to lose their loved ones and those loved ones to be faced with societal guilt. The culture of Japan leads to people having an overwhelming sense of guilt and pressure to not fail, with many opting to disappear rather than face it.

Written By: Jaelyn Diaz, Mental H2O Youth Resource Writer