Crystal Kay talks mental health on Instagram Live

Crystal Kay's makenai monday on September 27th featured a special guest and the entire theme of the day was mental health. Now, mental health is something that Crystal has spoken about pretty regularly since starting her makenai mondays. She did a whole ting with other artists to raise awareness of mental health in Japan, which involved a cover of a Lady Gaga song and selling T-shirts from which the proceeds with to a mental health charity in Japan - so it's something which is close to her heart. And as Crystal Kay candidly mentions at the start of her video, mental health is still seen as a very taboo subject in Japan, which is steeped in stigma.

The discussion doesn't go as deep as some may have wanted it to, but something else about mental health which Crystal Kay mentions is that mental health isn't always about the most dire and darkest of situations, which is part of the stigma attached to mental health. So the inclusion of what seemed like every day instances was a great idea in helping the discussion become more inclusive and to make people see that poor mental health isn't only tied to the most extreme things, although failing to pat attention to your mental health can cause things to get extreme.

One thing I really admired about this mental health discussion is that it was with a Black male mental health professional - something you don't see much of. Dr. Kojo Sarfo he in and of himself is breaking a stigma of mental health discussions and support; not just amongst Black people, but Black men specifically. Black women have done amazing work in really helping Black women and girls find avenues for getting mental health support. But when it comes to Black men? Chile. 8th place. No stars. So the fact that we have a Black Japanese woman and a Black man just openly discussing mental health is a bigger deal than I think people realise, and something truly necessary and special.

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Mental health is still very much a taboo subject around the world, but in Japan it truly is something that nobody talks about, despite the country having one of the highest suicide rates in the world. One of the biggest causes of suicide in Japan is usually related to work. The problematic work culture of Japan, poor work life balance and normality of burnout is something which Crystal Kay herself highlights. It's an area of discussion that I'd really like Crystal Kay to delve into and to have a Japanese mental health professional speak on. Because whilst overwork and burnout are common, there's a HUGE cultural attachment to it when it comes to this subject matter amongst Japanese people.

Work is one thing. But when you then factor in things like the societal expectations of women, the abuse of women, lack of support for the LGBTQUIABCDEFGHIHJ+ community, it's no wonder mental health across Japan is a mess and people are throwing themselves onto railway tracks.

Crystal Kay shedding a light on mental and using her platform to do so, is an amazing thing. And is one of many reasons why she needs to start getting a team together to help her polish up and produce video content, and start putting it on YouTube. It's getting to a point now where she's sharing too much good shit for it to just live exclusively on Instagram, a platform which isn't suited for long form content, despite them trying to push it. I don't know about y'all, but I'm not watching a one hour video on my phone. Nope. Also, Instagram is a garbage app generally. The UX is trash. Shit is slow. And the last time I tried to watch a full live on my phone, it kept overheating and shutting down my phone. YouTube don't do dat.

AND THE FACT that Crystal is having to translate everything her damn self mid conversation is wild, and a crazy skill that not everybody who is bilingual naturally has. So if LDH drop a bitch, she will always have work as a translator.

Crystal. Gurl. Get your shit set up on YouTube sweetie. Get them views and monetise. Bank the money you ain't getting from album sales.