Japanese wise up: 100k dropout vs 30k that wanna dropdead

[Taro Toporific]

No. of suicides tops 30,000 for 5th year in 2002
TOKYO July 25 Kyodo - The number of people committing suicide in Japan exceeded 30,000 for the fifth straight year

Runaways in 2002 exceed 100,000 for 2nd straight year
TOKYO July 25 Kyodo -The number of people who ran off from their homes last year and whose cases were handled by the police totaled 102,880, marking the second straight year the figure rose above 100,000...the NPA said the figure amounted to an increase of 0.7% from the previous year, with a marked increase in cases among people in their 30s or older and in the prime of their lives, with men comprising 61.4% of the total.

[ramchop]

with a marked increase in cases among people in their 30s or older and in the prime of their lives, with men comprising 61.4% of the total.

Woohoo! I thought the 20s was the prime of life and I was sadly past it. Got another 9 good years left in me yet.

[Captain Japan]

[quote="&quot"] No. of suicides tops 30,000 for 5th year in 2002
TOKYO July 25 Kyodo - The number of people committing suicide in Japan exceeded 30,000 for the fifth straight year

A friend of mine, when writing a story about the funeral industry in Japan, interviewed a coroner who told him that it is pretty common for them to forge death certificates to state the cause as something other than suicide. He said it had a lot to do with insurance and saving face for the family. But the point he was trying to make is that the number of suicides is higher in Japan than the total reported. Just how much higher though is a good question.

[Shibuya Me]

A thought.....

Over thirty thousand a year are actually ending their lives? I believe that is pretty damn high. Better than America! We have about half that in a much larger country I MIGHT ADD!

Could it be...might it be...a way of thinning out of a population of it's unwanted citizens? Sounds crude....but this is like reading a Steven King
Novel.

Seems funny that the second largest economy in the world can not get their systems in line to become profitable again. Could it be that they could get their economy on track if they actually wanted to?

What do you think? America is already on track to becoming a strong and vital economy again only after a few months of poor performance.

So why is Japan so...suicidal? I thought the Japanese were so...great at everything?! Why not the ability to run their own country? Want me to give it a whirl? I could not do much worse thus far!

I implore you. Look beyond the Louis Vuitton hand bags. Stand up for yourself! Enough killing of Japanese men between the ages of 30 - 50!
They deserve respect! Learn a new trade! ooooooo! Maybe write a book!

My point is...if you are going to kill yourself over money issues....buy a one way ticket to Hawaii and enjoy the view! Better than the alternative.....

Tell me about your thoughts. I want to know! We all do! Without talks...we could all become a world based on the laws of North Korea!

Now what's up with them? That's another issue....!

[Armandeus]

What do suicidal people expect to get by killing themselves? Relief?

Most people in Japan are (thankfully) non-religious, so I don't think they do it in expectation of a blissful afterlife or somesuch. How can nonexistence that you are not around to exert any control over be better than a life, no matter how miserable, that you have even a small amount of personal control over?

If you are not physically a prisoner, and you are miserable in your current life, then wouldn't making radical changes, or even "running away" be far better and meaningful than suicide?

I am obviously having trouble understanding the rationale for killing oneself. A good thing, I might add.

[Taro Toporific]

What do suicidal people expect to get by killing themselves? Relief?

Ok here's ANOTHER Question:
Do animals commit suicide?[url=http://216.239.53.104/search?q=cache:0y18RjOszUEJ:[url]www.sciencenet.org.uk/database/Social/9609/s00204d.html+suicide+in+animals&hl=en&ie=UTF-8]Suicide[/url] in Animals?[/url]

Palestinian bomb cat

[Armandeus]

Reading your articles, it seems there are two main reasons for animal "suicide":

1. To ensure survival of offspring.
2. As a side-effect of contracting parasitic disease.

However, many of the "suicides" described in those articles did not seem to be the premeditated act of desperation that is human suicide. A spider who gives her body as food to her young is probably not doing it out of a wish to "end it all."

What about human suicide? Are the 100,000 suicides in Japan based on one of these reasons?

Are we even talking about the same thing when we compare animal and human suicide? The dolphin example may have been the most similar to human suicide, but it seems to me the dolphins' self-battery was more of a futile escape attempt than a depression-related humanlike suicide.

Which leads me to ask, why are depressed people inclined to commit suicide? Is it for "the benefit of the group"? It certainly isn't for the benefit of the individual.

[Taro Toporific]

...why are depressed people inclined to commit suicide? Is it for "the benefit of the group"? It certainly isn't for the benefit of the individual.

Certainly suicide of the elderly in Japan has traditionaly been for the the benefit of the family. And salarymen kill themselves because they are far more useful dead than alive to everyone concerned.

[Naniwan Kid]

A friend of mine, when writing a story about the funeral industry in Japan, interviewed a coroner who told him that it is pretty common for them to forge death certificates to state the cause as something other than suicide. He said it had a lot to do with insurance and saving face for the family. But the point he was trying to make is that the number of suicides is higher in Japan than the total reported. Just how much higher though is a good question.

There is a term in Japanese that is used (it escapes me now) that I recently heard someone use. It basically means "unspecified sickness" which is the nice way of saying "he committed suicide". Everyone know it, but can't use the direct term.....