The Loneliest Job in the World

Last month, Papua New Guinea — an island nation in the southwestern Pacific Ocean known for its white sandy beaches, coral reefs and active volcanoes — launched the a Ministry of Coffee. The country’s earthy coffee is its second-largest agricultural export after palm oil, accounting for 6% of the national gross domestic product. With more than 85% of the population living in poverty, the new coffee minister, Joe Kuli, wants to use the industry to bring in more export revenue. The classic sweetness of the country’s coffee, complemented by an exotic, complex and fruity aroma, has won over many coffee aficionados across Australia, Japan and the U.S. The rest of the world could be next.

There is an old saying in New Zealand that “racing, rugby, and beer” are the favorite hobbies of its people. Hence, they now have a new ministry for the $1.6 billion racing industry, which employs over 50,000 people as trainers, breeders and owners. Racing minister Kieran McAnulty has said that the industry contributes as much to the New Zealand economy as fishing. But with recent scandals over drugging horses and animal cruelty, there’s also a mounting backlash from animal rights groups seeking restrictions — or even an outright ban — on greyhound racing.

Describing loneliness as a “real and diagnosable scourge,” the U.K. in 2018 established a separate ministry to deal with it. A year earlier, a study stated that 9 million Britons (14% of the population) suffer from loneliness. As loneliness became a major cause of concern during the pandemic, the U.K. government launched a chatbot service on WhatsApp to connect with lonely people.

Meanwhile, another nation across the world is grappling with the same challenge.

Although 28% of Japanese people are over the age of 65 — the oldest population in the world — the government in Tokyo last year appointed a minister of loneliness to tackle the issue of increasing suicides (especially among women) and alleviate social isolation among younger people. The ministry aims to deal with the mental health crisis of people furloughed from their jobs or those who feel isolated.

Vickie Skorji, the director of Japanese nonprofit TELL, which helps people with mental illness, told OZY that many COVD-19 restrictions “exacerbated feelings of isolation and loneliness and increased mental health issues.” Skorji said that the Ministry of Loneliness funded new initiatives to reach those who are lonely and feeling suicidal, particularly the younger generation. In June, the National Police Agency stated the suicide rate had dropped by 3.7% and such initiatives had helped save 338 lives.

There’s one place, though, where you want to be lonely: the toilet. Doctors say a good poo in the morning is an indication of good health too. And Japan takes this morning chore very seriously. It has created a separate toilet ministry to improve and beautify public bathrooms. It’s no secret, of course, that Japan pays special attention to its toilets that are famous for their high-tech offerings — from self-raising toilet seat-lids activated by a motion sensor and pulsating water sprays to a range of dials, levers, and buttons, almost like a fighter jet cockpit. Japan also presents “Toilet Awards Japan” to municipalities and businesses for promoting clean, safe and comfortable public toilets.

With an emphasis on yoga and ayurveda — a traditional form of Indian medicine — India’s Hindu nationalist Prime Minister Narendra Modi, in 2014, converted what was a department under the country’s health ministry and gave it the powers of an autonomous ministry. It’s called the AYUSH ministry — the acronym standing for ayurveda, yoga and naturopathy, unani, siddha and homeopathy.

But according to political analyst Nilanjan Mukhopadhyay, the “thrust” of the Modi government’s efforts has been to promote yoga and ayurveda, which have “Hindu connotations.” By contrast, little has been done to raise the profiles of unani, a form of medicine introduced in India by Arab and Persian settlers, and siddha, another medicine system traditionally linked with southern India. “Unani and siddha don’t fall into a very comfortable political zone of being labeled as India’s heritage as far as this government is concerned,” Mukhopadhyay told OZY.

In 2014, on his first visit to the United Nations General Assembly, Modi even urged member states to declare June 21 as International Day of Yoga. His pitch worked, but in 2015, the AYUSH ministry chose not to invite or select Muslims to serve as trainers abroad for yoga day. Modi’s political intent is to present India’s rich and diverse heritage as “exclusively Hindu,” Mukhopadhyay said. Yoga has been an easy diplomatic sell, because it already had a huge following in the West.

“Though Modi espouses unity through yoga, he has arguably been one of the most divisive Indian leaders in recent memory,” Anusha Kedhar, associate professor at University of California, Riverside, argued in a 2020 essay. “Modi’s yoga agenda has further entrenched the binary of the tolerant, ‘civilized’ Hindu and the intolerant, ‘irrational’ Muslim other.”