15th December 2011

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Fighting Depression With Manga - Tenten Hosokawa’s “Tsure Utsu”

This is a story that I feel should be shared to everyone who’s been through or going through depression. I recently read an article on the Japan Times about a manga artist who published a series of comics in Japan about a married couple combating depression. Her name is Tenten Hosokawa and her series, “Tsure ga Utsu ni Narimashite” (My Partner Has Depression) or simply known as “Tsure Utsu”, has become a smash hit in a country that has mostly looked down at those with mental illnesses. As someone who’s been through clinical depression, I find it inspirational that a manga artist has put this subject into the spotlight as we all need to take mental health seriously more than ever.

Here are some questions & answers from the article in which Tenten was interviewed that I found enlightening.

Up until then, what image did you have of clinical depression?

I had always thought that depression affected only special people, not ones like Tsure.

I felt the same myself. I actually felt that normal people like me wouldn’t get something like that. When I was diagnosed clinical depression many years ago, it was a huge shock to my system and I had to realize that it was real. I also found out that my dad has depression and I inherited it from him. To this day, I still continue fighting it.

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I understand that your husband slowly recovered, through ups and downs, and reached a state of complete remission in about three years. That’s really good to know, but there are a lot of people in Japan who don’t follow that kind of track, and some even kill themselves. Others, while continuing their treatment, don’t get well. What makes the difference?

Tsure tells me that he started feeling better after I told him: “You don’t have to get better; you can stay the way you are now.”

Did you really feel that way?

I didn’t feel inconvenienced by his illness. I thought that I’d find it hard to cope with it if I kept thinking, “When is this going to end?”

So instead of worrying about him getting better, my approach was like, “Let’s think about living happily together the way you are. I’m working, and we can get by financially, so you don’t have to be cured. You can stay the way you are.” He says my words made him feel so much better.

It’s interesting that Tenten took that approach. I do have mixed thoughts about her words, but at the same time, being depressed is normal and it happens to everyone. How would you encourage someone you love who’s depressed?

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Why did you decide to write a book about the experience?

The reason I published “Tsure Utsu” was because, no matter how much I explained the situation to people around me, I couldn’t make them understand it.

I kept telling details of the illness to my parents, for example, and then they would say: “So, when is it going to be over?”

So I thought I should make a story about us, using my skills as a comic artist, and make them read it. And then people would understand.

I’ve been through a point where certain people never understood why I was depressed. I try and try so hard. In the end, I just gave up and moved on towards other people who did understand my situation. I do admit that it takes time to understand how severe clinical depression is. Then again, it was mostly the male friends in my life who didn’t understand. So, talk to girls more often, I guess?

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With what kind of criticism? (people have written emails to Tenten about her book)

I guess some people with depression feel jealous of others (due to their condition), so some people cursed me, asking: “How dare you write such a book?”

Were you not hurt?

I took it in my stride, as I knew that their condition made them feel that way.

Depression does a good job of warping your perspective of things. At times, I had thoughts of jealousy. I felt that I deserved people’s attention. Why didn’t I get this? Why aren’t I successful right now? Then I told myself (with help from my support system) that I have things that certain people wish they had. 

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I remember reading one of your husband’s recent inerviews in a Japanese newspaper in which he said that now Japan as a whole is suffering from depression. Do you agree with that?

Yes. I think that, in the aftermath of the disasters, the ways people are pretending to be okay when they are not are very much like the symptoms of depression that my husband used to have.

Interesting. Can you cite some examples?

Well, I think we tend to say ”Ganbare!” (“Hang in there!”) too much to disaster victims. Because they are told “Ganbare!” so often, they feel under pressure to overwork themselves when they are having such hard times already. It’s just like saying “Ganbare!” to people suffering from depression.

Tenten is right. We can’t just tell everyone to hang in there all by themselves. They need support. Just say something more encouraging like “I’m/We’re here for you”. While Japanese citizens have amazing character, they are human in the end. Give those folks some feeling of love and care. 

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What message do you have for people suffering from depression?

I think a lot of people, when they get depressed, become overwhelmed with negative feelings. But the illness also gives you an opportunity to change your life. In that respect, it’s not so negative.

Depression gives you a chance to review your life, to look back on how stress has built up — and to change things. So the illness can actually be a positive thing in your life.

I seriously wish more depressed people viewed this way about depression. In many ways, I have viewed depression as probably the best thing that’s ever happened in my life so far. I honestly feel that if I wasn’t depressed, I would have become a complete egotistical douche trying to gain the attention of everyone around me. Depression has taught me humility, patience, empathy, and self-respect. 

As much as depression is now taken more seriously in Japan, there doesn’t seem to be any increase in help. The suicide rate there is extremely alarming. 31,960 people in Japan have killed themselves in 2010, which apparently is 6 times more than those who died from traffic accidents. For a country that’s so focused on group dynamic, it seems like that doesn’t apply to outside of work. One has to wonder what will become of Japan given all it’s been through as of late.

To anyone that is depressed, you won’t always feel that way and if you have someone who is willing to listen to you, that means they care. Don’t take that person for granted. Also, there are people that will help get the support you need. Find out what’s making you depressed and fight it with everything you have. Here’s a quote that I find true.

“Persistence.  Nothing in the world can take the place of persistence.

Talent will not; nothing is more common than unsuccessful men with talent.

Genius will not; unrewarded genius is almost a proverb.

Education will not; the world is full of educated derelicts.

Persistence and determination alone are omnipotent.

The slogan, ‘Press on,’ has solved and always will solve the problems of the human race.”

—Calvin Coolidge

If Tenten Hosokawa and her husband managed to persist, you can too. Believe. 

Tagged: Japan TimesJapanese cultureTenten HosokawaTsure Utsuclinical depressionmanga psychologymental healthmental illnessespsychology of depressionmanga