In Japan, the mental health stigma that has caused youths to feel uncomfortable speaking up about their feelings to loved ones.

 

Cultural historian of modern India and Japan, Christopher Harding, noted in BBC News’ How Japan came to believe in depression that “depression” was a word hardly used outside of psychiatric circles up till the late 1990s. The Japanese frequently turned low moods into expression of aesthetics in art and film.

 

He also noted that in Japan, 'depression has been regarded primarily physical rather than a combination of physical and psychological, which was more common in the West.'

 

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While the diagnosis itself was rarely used, people suffering from classic symptoms were likely told by their doctors they simply needed to rest.

 

With a track record of a society being silent and dismissive of mentally debilitating disorders, the unfamiliarity in broaching a heavy topic of one’s mental health with close kin breeds discomfort. As such, the lack of a proper support system and a suppression of negative emotions birthed the Yami Kawaii subculture. Yami Kawaii translates to ‘Sick Cute’ in English. It is a subculture that has been gaining traction in Tokyo’s trendiest district – Harajuku.