ABSTRACT
This paper aims to describe the policies of Tetsushi Sakamoto as Minister of Loneliness in reducing the suicide rate of women in Japan. Termination of employment and the application of social distancing and self-isolation due to COVID-19 caused disruption to the mental health of the Japanese community, marked by the highest increase in suicide rates in the last 11 years, dominated by women and children. To respond to this case, PM Yoshihide Suga appointed Tetsushi Sakamoto as Minister of Loneliness in order to reduce depression in society and the suicide rate due to the pandemic. This study used a qualitative method approach, further analyzed by the critical discourse approach (CDA) to criticize the policies taken by PM Suga and Sakamoto to reduce suicides. The results showed that Sakamoto's work adopted the British Minister of Loneliness’ method, such as appointing senior members as field implementers, as well as mapping self-isolation motivation. However, there are findings that the policy which PM Suga appreciates is too random and takes a long time to survey, as well as there being inconsistency between national policies and the Minister of Loneliness which has the potential to hinder the performance of this cabinet.
