Furious Seasons

April 17, 2006

Japan Goes After Suicide

If there is one country the culture of which is weirdly and tragically bound up with suicide, it's Japan. About 30,000 people kill themselves in the island nation each year. At a population of about 130 million people, that makes their suicide rate approximately 2.5 times greater than ours in the US. Don't think that many of those fit stereotypes of dishonored businessmen and students leaping to their deaths. The country is home to internet-based suicide cults and has a relationship with the Ultimate Solution that I've never understood--not that our relationship is much better or easier to disentangle. The country is setting a modest and hopefully achieveable goal of cutting that rate by 15 percent in the next 10 years. No news on how they plan to pull that off.

Meanwhile, back in America, the federal goverment's goal of halving our suicide rate by 2010 is getting absolutely nowhere. Better luck to Japan.

Posted by Philip Dawdy at April 17, 2006 12:10 AM

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Comments

Interesting to read this. My daughter who was just in a psych unit in another state had an experience in a group with a young man whose Father came to see him. The young man had attempted suicide, and the Father was relentless in yelling, screaming and blaming the son, for it was "his fault". It was very difficult to hear the young man tell his group that he was basically a disgrace and it was all his fault that he wanted to kill himself. The Dad did all of his screaming in Japanese, and the young man translated to the group what he was saying. Heartbreaking.He is a foreign exchange student.

Posted by: Stephany at April 17, 2006 12:40 AM

Arigato gozaimasu for taking a look at suicide prevention in Japan. We can't let the Japanese beat us in these life saving efforts.

Thanks for the additional resources, Internet sites, and blogs, too!

Best wishes,
Moira

Posted by: Moira Wait at April 17, 2006 07:24 AM