Frequently Asked Questions

CJMH is based in the USA but serves Japanese in need – whether they reside in Japan or anywhere else in the world via videoconferencing. But why are donations needed from non-Japanese people to help Japanese people? Simply put, because they are largely unable to help themselves at this time. And as friends to Japan and its people, they need our help and charity.

Japan, like many other Asian nations, highly stigmatizes mental illness and those who suffer from it. As a result, people suffering from mental illness hide their condition and suffer in silence; or their families seclude them from public view to avoid condemnation and ostracization. Native Japanese seldom seek help for themselves and rarely donate to help others..

The Judeo-Christian influenced world is one steeped in charity and philanthropy, but other nations including Japan have not evolved cultures that support or promote philanthropy. They look to their governments to provide what they need. Mental health was largely ignored until the 2011 Great East Earthquake struck Japan. Since then the Japanese government has embarked on mental health reform efforts, but they are about 50-60 years behind the West (e.g. USA and England) in mental health infrastructure reform.

And the direction they’re seemingly taking now, i.e. even greater over-reliance on MD’s, is vastly differently than the deconstructive push towards outpatient care that has been adopted by Western cultures. Japan has no licensure or standardization for psychologists or psychotherapists. As a result, services provided by those Japanese who have obtained certificates as psychologists and psychotherapist are not covered by health insurance. The duo of stigmatization and paying out-of-pocket keeps Japanese silently suffering from mental illness until their conditions degrade enough to warrant costly hospitalization and physician intervention. And those are the lucky ones. Others simply die alone, sometimes in suicide.

And so CJMH is here to help the Japanese people who are largely under-served for mental health problems. Our mission is multi-pronged to address urgent needs with programs and services and push for longer-term solutions with education, advocacy, and professional development. And CJMH greatly appreciates your support in the form of donations to enable us to carry forth our mission. Thank you.

Stigma regarding mental health persists in Japanese and other Asian cultures which contributes to ignorance of conditions and treatments. The people who need the help aren’t necessarily seeking help or know where and how to find it. At present, our website primarily serves as our fundraising mechanism to appeal to others for help. Our assistance to the Japanese community is delivered through various offline methods. We will eventually convert the website and its contents into Japanese, Korean and Chinese as service delivery becomes more effective by online means.