Japan Suicides Top 30,000 In 2006

(AP)  The number of suicides in Japan dipped in 2006 but the total topped 30,000 for the ninth straight year, police said Thursday.

Japan's suicide toll fell 1.2 percent to 32,155 last year, the National Police Agency said.

Among them were 886 students, including nearly 100 elementary and junior high-school children, according to the police report. More students committed suicide last year than in any year since the agency started taking statistics in 1978.

Japan's suicide rate is among the highest in the industrialized world. The numbers exploded to more than 30,000 a year in 1998 amid a long economic slump that forced mass restructuring at companies, driving many men in their 40s and 50s to kill themselves.

While Japan's economy has made a recent strong recovery, more than a decade of stagnation had left many people bankrupt or jobless. Nearly half of those who committed suicide last year were unemployed, the police report said. Men accounted for 71 percent of all suicides.

Last June, Japan's parliament enacted a law aimed at slashing the number of suicides by bolstering mental health support services, including counseling at workplaces and a network of community psychiatrists. The Cabinet is expected to approve the law this month.

[rushman71]

The people of Japan live by a code of honor. They look at themselves as a disgrace to their families and loved ones if they would lose their jobs, end up bankrupt, etc. It's unfortunate that they don't seek help and assistance through these troubled times.

[mtmaid]

What reason is given for children committing suicide? Is the concept of "saving face" still a part of the culture? Are there more suicides in densely populated areas? Does the violence on American T.V. affect the children?
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[mgpm-2009]

I think it has something to do with too many people living too close together in too little space.

[gkc99]

We're always hearing about Japan's heavy handed gun control and how safe it is there. Guess they ought to outlaw bridges and sleeping pills!

Americans won't commit suicide if their jobs get trashed. They'll commit murder. Of the corporate masters. Let's hope.

[delete91]

Life is priceless. Inability to cope with adversity is the culprit of such senseless actions. I don't know about you, but I have only achieved success after a series of mistakes. No matter how long you've been building a career or a personal relationship, anything that happens to hinder your plans for success always bear gifts of wisdom and opportunities for greater achievement, not resentment, anger, and depression leading to suicide. You fall down, so you can learn to pick yourself up. As an after thought, Japanese society puts much more emphasis on achievement than many other countries. What goes up, must come down, so if society and family demand such high levels of achievement, you can expect falling short of expectations would be a low of just as much impact. Noboby wants to be a "failure" in the eyes of family and society esp. in Japan.

[delete91]

Life is priceless. Inability to cope with adversity is the culprit of such senseless actions. I don't know about you, but I have only achieved success after a series of mistakes. No matter how long you've been building a career or a personal relationship, anything that happens to hinder your plans for success always bear gifts of wisdom and opportunities for greater achievement, not resentment, anger, and depression leading to suicide. You fall down, so you can learn to pick yourself up.

[ubrew12]

Article: "a long economic slump that forced mass restructuring at companies, driving many men in their 40s and 50s to kill themselves."

20 dollars says that's in our future.

[godofredo29]

Such an active intervention on behalf of the problem! Here, men are merely expendable and any suicide prevention programs are aimed at everyone else but the individual contemplating suicide. And, I use the word individual on purpose: our society is not really able to see men as individuals, but, rather, as functions of their social relationships. When a person reaches the point of wanting to take their life, they have passed the point of thinking about their functions in social relationships, so we shouldn't bother to try to shame them into not killing themselves. We need to know what it would be that would make it worth it to them as individuals to continue living. And, so far in the U.S., we don't do that.