Suicides top 3,000 in May (JAPAN)

[AsahinaKimi]

Source: NHK world

More than 3,200 people killed themselves in Japan last month, exceeding the 3,000 mark for the first time in 2 years.

The National Police Agency says the number of suicides totaled 3,281 in May, up 499, or 18 percent, from a year earlier.

By prefecture, Tokyo topped the list with 325 suicides, followed by 210 in Kanagawa and 206 in Osaka.

Read more: http://www3.nhk.or.jp/daily/english/08_09.html

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so sad :cry:

[DeadEyeDyck]

1. Isn't this part of their culture when they are shamed?

Can't relate but I remember reading Shogun where the Help committed suidide because they prepared super wrong.

[AsahinaKimi]

2. You might try reading this

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Suicide_in_Japan

[AlecBGreen]

6. yes, close

The main character (Blackthorne) shot a pheasant and hung it up to season. He said, "dont touch this" but then forgot he left it there. His gardnerer, fearing that the rotting carcass was wrecking the harmony of the household, buried it. He then killed himself for violating his boss's command.

[sudopod]

9. W T F nt

[AlecBGreen]

13. If you enjoy historical fiction

I highly recommend James Clavell's series. Shogun was his first, the book which was cited upthread. It is an amazing novel and gives great insight into Japanese culture. My favorites of the series are Tai-Pan (1840's British Hong Kong) and King Rat (1940's Japanese POW camp). They are both mesmerizing novels. 5 stars for sure.

[Vehl]

11. Yep

I remember thinking wow that is really sad, when I read that part.

The practice of Hara kiri/Sepukku plays a major part in that novel

[sudopod]

8. ....

sigh

[Rhiannon12866]

3. I am wondering if it's because they are ill.

Very sad, since so many have alreay suffered so much. ;(

[aquart]

5. Not so much ill as destroyed.

An organic farmer killed himself months ago, when his soil was contaminated with radiation.

People whose families lived in one house for hundreds of years no longer have that house, that community, that family.

And there is discrimination against the Fukushima people, as if they were contagious. Would you want your son or daughter to marry someone whose DNA may be poisoned by radiation?

And it still isn't over. When we dropped the bombs. Bang! Done. The planes flew off and everything else was aftermath. But with Fukushima, there is no aftermath. There is no getting over what isn't ending. And is daily becoming worse.

The little squibbles I get from my friend in Tokyo have almost no information, but there's a tone that reminds me of the Red Death in Venice. "Japan is finished." Stuff like that.

[progressoid]

4. How awful.

:cry:

[Vinee]

7. I was trying to track suicides in America in the periods before and after the recession

as a kind of economic indicator. The information was incredibly elusive for some reason. It felt like a dirty little secret that America wanted buried.

[slackmaster]

10. Obviously the problem is caused by easy availability of handguns

:sarcasm:

[Vehl]

12. So sad

My thoughts are with the friends and family members of the deceased :(

The tsunami and the nuclear meltdown inevitably played a part.