Language: Japanese and Italian 

Moderator and Interpreter: 

Enrico Fongaro (Senior Research Fellow, Nanzan Institute for Religion and Culture) 

15:00-15:50 Presentation 1: Ministry of Loneliness: An artistic research about Loneliness 

Rebecca Moccia (Artist) 

15:50-16:40 Presentation 2: Loneliness-Isolation Measures and Suicide Prevention in Japan 

Karin Moriyama (Senior Research Fellow, Institute for Social Ethics) 

16:40-16:50 Comment 1 

Winibaldus Stefanus Mere (Senior Research Fellow, Institute for Social Ethics) 

16:50-17:00 Comment 2 

Taro Okuda (Senior Research Fellow, Institute for Social Ethics) 

The aim of my contribution is to present my ongoing project Ministry of Loneliness, providing a contextualization of it in my practice as a contemporary visual artist working with multimedia installations. 

The project explores the emotional state of Loneliness in neoliberal society, starting from the common experience of isolation experienced during the It takes as a practical and symbolic starting point the Ministry of Loneliness, a proper ministry appointed in the UK in 2018 to address social and health problems related to Loneliness, and then replicated in other countries as Japan in 2021. It takes as a practical and symbolic starting point the Ministry of Loneliness, a proper ministry appointed in the UK in 2018 to address social and health problems related to Loneliness, and then replicated in other countries as Japan in 2021. 

In order to do this, I am developing research in different cultural and geographical contexts such as the United Kingdom, the United States, Italy, and I am developing research in different cultural and geographical contexts such as the United Kingdom, the United States, Italy, and currently in Japan, 

addressing the following questions: 

What does it mean to be lonely in a neoliberal and hyper-connected society? 

How does Loneliness manifest itself in its materiality and how does this relate to the socio-political context in which we live? 

Is Loneliness today a common emotional state that could empower us? 

*The project is funded by the program Italian Council of the Italian Ministry of Culture and will result in a multimedia installation to be presented in an exhibition at the Institute of Contemporary Arts (ICA) Milan, Italy in 2023. 

In Japan, the Office for Loneliness and Isolation was established in the Cabinet Secretariat in 2021, creating the world's second Minister of State for Loneliness and Isolation, after the UK. Loneliness and isolation are said to be significantly associated with suicide. This presentation presents the current situation and countermeasures for loneliness, isolation and suicide in Japan, especially in the Covid-19 crisis.