No. of suicides in Japan reaches 22,000 in Jan-Aug

Tuesday 29th September, 06:50 AM JST

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BlackOut at 05:59 PM JST - 30th September

The figures, which are thought to reflect worsening economic conditions

This people still don’t get why people commit suicide.

Poor Japanese society!

Bully everywhere from school to workplace, A lot of advance taking from employer in everyday working life, A lot of forcing and unwritten rule mandatory life style, on an on that make people unhappy, unwilling to live in this society.

Why not look at a lot poorer nation with way lower suicide rate and learn from them?
hellhound at 06:04 PM JST - 30th September

Yeah, japanese are mentally weak, very weak! I see them at work, they get stressed out easily. They are just weak, among other 100 bad things I have to say about them hahahahahhahah
tokyokawasaki at 01:38 PM JST - 1st October

Totally outdated cultural beliefs and having absolutely no backbone are the real issues that causes so many suicides IMHO.
michaelqtodd at 03:18 PM JST - 1st October

Yeah how many suicides are there are among really poor starving communities in Africa for example? Suicide brings so much sadness to friends and family and in the case of those who jump in front of trains massive inconvenience. It is the ultimate act of selfishness.Rather than blaming economic influences why not simply come out and say people are becoming more self centred?
sfjp330 at 02:47 AM JST - 2nd October

Yeah how many suicides are there are among really poor starving communities in Africa for example?

It's hard to compare Africa, but for a industrial nation like Japan, they have 2-1/2 times greater suicide rate that U.S.

Over 300,000 Japanese died of suicide in last ten years and it's not decreasing due to govenment having minimal involvement. This is more than combined Hiroshima and Nagasaki atomic bomb casualties. Japan has serious stress and mental illness problem and no solution to decreasing the number of suicides. The Japanese companies has to change their ways and openly discuss stress and mental illness problems as not being shameful. They can save some of the people if they can get proper treatment. Face the facts, Japan is a sick society.
Bazza at 04:01 PM JST - 2nd October

Many Japanese people just don't have anybody they can open up to about the inner turmoil we all feel from time to time.

Call it pride, shame, honour or whatever. Men in Japan also consider it unmanly to whine about their difficulties.

We're all going to die some day anyway. Why not wait around and see what happens in the meantime?
hanadecaka at 03:08 PM JST - 3rd October

When people are unemployment how they can survive?Government is pouring money in ODA.Government must give equal oppurtunity to all people then it will comes down the ratio of sucide in Japan.
andrewtokyo at 09:51 AM JST - 4th October

Mental health professionals in Japan have long known that the reason for the unnecessarily high suicide rate in Japan is due to unemployment, bankruptcies, and the increasing levels of stress on businessmen and other salaried workers who have suffered enormous hardship in Japan since the bursting of the stock market bubble here that peaked around 1997. Until that year Japan had an annual suicide of rate figures between 22,000 and 24,000 each year. Following the bursting of the stock market and the long term economic downturn that has followed here since the suicide rate in 1998 increased by around 35% and since 1998 the number of people killing themselves each year in Japan has consistently remained well over 30,000 each and every year to the present day.

The current worldwide recession is of course impacting Japan too, so unless the new administration initiates very proactive and well funded local and nationwide suicide prevention programs and other mental health care initiatives, including tackling the widespread problem of clinical depression suffered by so many of the general population, it is very difficult to foresee the previous government's stated target to reduce the suicide rate to around 23,000 by the year 2016 as being achievable. On the contrary the numbers, and the human suffering and the depression and misery that the people who become part of these numbers, have to endure may well stay at the current levels that have persistently been the case here for the last ten years. It could even get worse unless even more is done to prevent this terrible loss of life.

I would also like to suggest that as many Japanese people have very high reading skills in English that any articles (or works of fiction which I appreciate this is) dealing with suicide in Japan could usefully provide contact details for hotlines and support services for people who are depressed and feeling suicidal.

Useful telephone number for Japanese residents of Japan who speak Japanese and are feeling depressed or suicidal:
Inochi no Denwa (Lifeline Telephone Service)： Japan: 0120-738-556 Tokyo: 3264 4343

Andrew Grimes Tokyo Counseling Services

http://tokyocounseling.com
ensnaturae at 08:44 PM JST - 4th October

andrewtokyo at 09:51 AM JST - 4th October Mental health professionals in Japan have long known that the reason for the unnecessarily high suicide rate in Japan is ............

The reasons you list - are not reasons. Human nature, throughout its recorded history, has demonstrated over and over again, in many different terrifying/oppressive/challenging circumstances, that it is capable of facing and dealing with them - without self destruction or even despair. I think that it is misleading, and dangerous to quote those sources as reliable or to state those circumstances that you list as 'reasons' for suicide. Stress, fear, depression, all kinds of harrowing circumstances - can be faced creatively, and are so - by millions of people worldwide - remember the zen story of the guy hanging on to a root on the cliff, who sees the strawberry nearby.
ensnaturae at 08:54 PM JST - 4th October

hanadecaka at 03:08 PM JST - 3rd October When people are unemployment how they can survive?Government is pouring money in ODA.Government must give equal oppurtunity to all people then it will comes down the ratio of sucide in Japan.

Hanadecaka - you know that people (perhaps especially Japanese people, sometimes) have survived much, much worse circumstances than currently exist in Japan - and will continue to do so without governments handing out money or benefits. Dont wait for government intervention - your life is in your own hands, and there are sure to be honest solutions to difficulties.
dolphingirl at 10:03 PM JST - 4th October

andrewtokyo and ensnaturae: I also read that the main reasons for suicide in japan include unemployment, debt, and social pressures. To be out of work, to owe money or to be seen as weak or vulnerable are sources of shame, especially in Japan. And considering that shame has long been an underlying Japanese cultural factor, it's no surprise that some people here would rather take their own life(culturally tolerable), than face such a disgrace.

It's true, however, that people in some cultures tend to have personality traits that are perhaps better equipped to face the struggles and difficulties in life. Optimism, a sense of humor, the ability to laugh at oneself are some that come to mind. Also, the way people relate to each other is important. Open, honest, warm, loving relationships go a long way to help us through the hard times. Maybe it is some of these qualities that are lacking in Japan.
dolphingirl at 10:09 PM JST - 4th October

bazza: I liked what you said about waiting to see what happens. No matter how bad things seem, it's guaranteed to change! Isn't it the Buddhist belief that nothing is permanent and 'this too shall pass'!?
ensnaturae at 11:15 PM JST - 4th October

dolphingirl at 10:03 PM JST - 4th October "It's true, however, that people in some cultures tend to have personality traits that are perhaps better equipped to face the struggles and difficulties in life".

DG - I think the important thing to note is that it is not human nature or as you suggest - 'people' in 'some cultures' that are ill or better equipped.

It is the 'cultures' themselves that dis- or en-courage people to survive difficulties. Through their teaching - the belief system, the pressure of social needs and standards - and through them, the 'people' acquire information that may be unhelpful, or destuctive, to those obliged to receive it.

Perhaps the change from pre-war, to post-war, Japanese philosophy, offered too much confusion so that many people lost their way and forgot how best to 'survive' these kind of economic stresses etc.

I do not think it is true at all - in general - that 'people' ie - human nature - is programmed to 'suicide' in the kind of situations that exist in Japan today. Not at all. Check out the astonishing resilience of those Japanese - many of them as parentless youngsters, who had to face natural disasters, (earthquakes), the 'shame' of WW2, and atomic bombs, and the confusion and misery of it all. What is a bit of economic decline compared to those things? Nothing, nothing at all!
dolphingirl at 11:59 PM JST - 4th October

I think I see your point ensnaturae. I also don't think that it is the economic decline that is causing the high number of suicides. As you said, people in Japan have gone through much worse. However, these events (earthquakes, war) are very large scale and tend to affect everyone and thus people come together to fight and survive. Whereas things such as unemployment or depression are more personal problems and also isolating. I think in these days of computers and cellphones, people are more isolated and alone than ever. I think it's this lack of connection combined with one's own character that contributes to one commiting suicide.
LFRAgain at 10:30 AM JST - 5th October

"It seems that the Japanese people needs religion."

No. No. Oh, for the love of Pete* , no. No one needs religion.

*irony noted