Nine to go! (suicide party cars)

[Captain Japan]

Here's a new wrinkle...
Man balks at suicide bid and calls police to save 3 others
Mainichi

OSAKA -- One of the four people who attempted to gas themselves by burning briquettes in a sealed apartment here fled from the room and alerted police, who rescued the three others on Wednesday, police said.

Local police are questioning the four -- three men and a woman -- on suspicion of being involved in a suicide attempt.

The four who got acquainted with each other through an Internet bulletin board met at JR Shin-Osaka Station on Monday. They went to an apartment in Yodogawa-ku, Osaka, took sleeping pills and burned briquettes in the room in a suicide pact, investigators said.

However, one of the three -- a 33-year-old unemployed man from Hirakata, Osaka Prefecture -- balked early Wednesday morning, fled from the room and alerted police....the rest...

[FG Lurker]

[Mulboyne]

KT: 35% of Koreans Considered Suicide Once
Thirty-five percent of South Koreans have considered committing suicide at least once, according to a survey by the Korea Institute for Health and Social Affairs (KIHASA) on Thursday. The survey, conducted among 1,025 people aged 15 to 69, found that 360 respondents, or 35 percent, said they had thought about killing themselves at least once and 17 percent said they had thought about it over the past 12 months.
Around 4.3 percent said they had set up a detailed plan for suicide, 3.7 percent actually attempted it and 0.4 percent said they had received medical treatment after attempting suicide. About half of the respondents said they feel depressed once in a while and 5.5 percent said they suffer from chronic depression.

[ichigo partygirl]

Wow this story made the local news in my smallish city in NZ............was random

[Captain Japan]

Suicides hit new high as Japanese troops feel strain
Sydney Morning Herald

The suicide rate among Japanese soldiers is at its highest point ever, the Japan Defence Agency says.

It is unclear whether or not the deaths are connected to the country's military deployment in Iraq, because the agency had done no research on the phenomenon, a spokesman said yesterday.

But experts on suicide say - and anecdotal evidence from returning soldiers suggests - that the fears of soldiers are greater than ever.

Seventy-eight soldiers have killed themselves in the past 11 months, the agency said. This surpassed the figure for the previous 12 months by three deaths and if the pattern holds true, a further six soldiers will be dead before the end of March.

The agency says suicides have been rising steadily since 1996, when the number hovered between 40 and 50.

The death rate among soldiers outstripped the national average in Japan, where suicide is the highest in the developed world....the rest...

[dimwit]

Sydney Morning Herald

The suicide rate among Japanese soldiers is at its highest point ever, the Japan Defence Agency says.

Really???

[Ketou]

Carbon monoxide poisoning is pretty ugly.
A few years back now I had to identify the body of a japanese lass who had offed herself in her car. She had run a hose from the exhaust into the vehicle, which brings me to a sad irony I'll mention after. Anyway, she was all bloated, her skin was a mottled yellow red and there was this horrid trail of yellow foam coming from her mouth. I've no doubt it's better than a shotgun to the head but it's still an ugly death.
The irony...... months earlier we had had a chat about someone's CO suicide and she asked me how they did it. So, regretfully now, I explained the mechanics of gasing oneself..... Even though in the months between that conversation and her death she had made me the executor of her will, I still didn't see what was coming!

[Captain Japan]

Japanese trooper plunges to death from Thai hotel
Mainichi

An Air Self-Defense Force (ASDF) member plummeted to his death from a Thai hotel where he was staying on Sunday, the Defense Agency said.

Agency officials said no suicide note has been found. ASDF troops deployed to Thailand and local police are investigating the circumstances surrounding his death.

At around 3:50 p.m., Japan time, a 35-year-old staff sergeant who was staying in a 12th-floor room of a hotel in Pathaya plunged to the ground, according to the Defense Agency. He was pronounced dead at around 7:40 p.m.

The staff sergeant, who is a mechanic of a C-130 transport aircraft belonging to the ASDF, arrived in Thailand on Feb. 17 to participate in activities to support victims of the tsunami that hit Sumatra. (Mainichi Shimbun, Japan, Feb. 28, 2005)

[Captain Japan]

Four found dead in car at Nikko shrine
Kyodo via Japan Today
Tuesday, March 1, 2005 at 02:41 JST

UTSUNOMIYA — Four people were found dead in a rental car parked in a lot at the scenic Chugu Shrine in Nikko, Tochigi Prefecture, on Monday night in a suspected case of group suicide involving charcoal stoves, police said.

The police said the three men and one woman were found dead around 10:50 p.m. Two charcoal stoves were found in the vehicle. (Kyodo News)

[Mulboyne]

Four people were found dead...at the scenic Chugu Shrine

Interesting word to include. Do they score extra points for dying in a scenic location?

[Captain Japan]

Four people were found dead...at the scenic Chugu Shrine

Interesting word to include. Do they score extra points for dying in a scenic location?

An update dismisses such pleasantries but adds three more bodies...
7 people gas themselves to death in cars in Tochigi Prefecture
Mainichi

In a separate incident in the Tochigi Prefecture town of Ninomiya, two men and a woman were found dead in a vehicle in the dry riverbed of the Kinu River at about 9:50 a.m. on Tuesday. Police said a clay stove containing briquettes had been placed in the passenger seat of the vehicle, and the windows had been sealed shut from the inside.

Suicide notes were found inside the car. Police are working to confirm the identity of the victims. (Mainichi Shimbun, Japan, March 1, 2005)...the rest...

[sillygirl]

I'm in Tochigi....

My old boss at the hostess club I worked at gassed himself in his car with a hose pipe attached to the exhaust, in the mountains near Nikko.

The waterfall there (v scenic by the way) is a famous suicide spot, and supposed shinrei shasshins are abound!

[FG Lurker]

Same seven as above, but a few more details. Apparently one of the "partiers" was a 14 year old.

Seven die in online suicide pact in Japan
The Guardian, March 2, 2005

Four people in their 20s and 30s were found dead in a car in a mountainside parking lot in Tochigi prefecture late on Monday. Shortly before 10am yesterday, the bodies of three people, including a 14-year-old girl, were found 30 miles away inside a car parked on a dry riverbed.

(Full Story)

[Mulboyne]

MDN: Young man and woman found dead in car parked in Kobe
KOBE -- A young man and woman were found dead in a car parked in a mountainous area here Thursday morning in a suspected suicide pact, police said...Noting that a portable clay stove containing a briquette was found in the car, and their bodies had no external injuries, investigators suspect that they gassed themselves to death by burning the briquette and generating carbon monoxide.

[GuyJean]

[Mulboyne]

Kyodo via Yahoo: Tohoku Univ. professor kills self over sexual harassment allegation
An associate professor at Tohoku University, who was criticized for allegedly sexually harassing a female student, was found dead in his car in Sendai earlier this month, sources familiar with the case said Monday. Police said they suspect the associate professor at Tohoku University's Graduate School of International Cultural Studies committed suicide. The teacher was found dead in his vehicle at a cemetery in Sendai's Aoba Ward on March 13, the police said, adding they found charcoal stoves and a suicide note denying the sexual harassment allegation inside the vehicle.

[Taro Toporific]

Sponsored Suicide Leap(tm)
PrintedmatterPress, 17 Mar 2005
The recent attention given to the phenomenon of internet organised, group suicide pacts has caught the eye of an enterprising local ex-pat charity. The charity has declared its intention to simultaneously "raise money for a good cause" and give foreigners "a real insight" into Japanese culture.
"Suicide has always been popular in Japan," says Ned Dooley of the charity 'Deathleap' "it's as much a part of the local culture as cherry blossom viewing, kabuki and sleeping on trains but, before we came along, nobody had realized that there was a market out there."
"Donors like to see people going that extra mile for charity," he added, "sponsored walks or parachute jumps just don't grab the public's imagination. But suicide..the money's been pouring in."...more....

[FG Lurker]

Suicide websites leading to deadly connections in Japan
Globe and Mail, March 26, 2005

On a website called Group Suicide Net, the computer screens flicker with cries and whispers for help. They are not pleading for help to survive. They want help to die.

[...]

[Japan's] rate of 24.1 suicides for every 100,000 people is one of the highest in the industrialized world. (By comparison, Canada's suicide rate of 11.6 for every 100,000 is less than half of the Japanese rate.)

[...]

Decades ago, kitchen ovens were the preferred method. Then the gas companies made the oven gas less dangerous. People switched to jumping from tall buildings, until the owners blocked access to their roofs and windows.

Later, the most popular suicide location was the high-speed railway line that cuts through the centre of Tokyo

[...]

Another popular suicide site was a forest at the foot of Mount Fuji

[...]

Japan, he said, still fails to understand the need for a broader campaign of suicide prevention [...] Until recently, for example, the Japanese government did not allocate any money for suicide prevention.

The government finally provided a paltry sum of $3-million (U.S.) for suicide prevention in 2001, but since then the budget has declined. There is not a single full-time prevention specialist in the Japanese Health Ministry, Mr. Saito said.

(Full Story)

The hard & emotionally cold part of me says that if people want to die so badly, let them. Reduce the surplus population (apologies to Charles Dickens).

Another not-so-cold part of me says that really there should be social services in place to at least try to help these people... With all the worry about decreasing population you'd think the J-gov't would have more interest in preventing something as preventable as the suicide of some smuck who got dumped by his gf.

[dimwit]

The hard & emotionally cold part of me says that if people want to die so badly, let them. Reduce the surplus population (apologies to Charles Dickens).

[quote]Are there no prisons?" asked Scrooge.

"Plenty of prisons," said the gentleman, laying down the pen again.

"And the Union workhouses?" demanded Scrooge. "Are they still in operation?"

"They are. Still," returned the gentleman, "I wish I could say they were not."

"The Treadmill and the Poor Law are in full vigour, then?" said Scrooge.

"Both very busy, sir."

"Oh! I was afraid, from what you said at first, that something had occurred to stop them in their useful course," said Scrooge. "I'm very glad to hear it."

"Under the impression that they scarcely furnish Christian cheer of mind or body to the multitude," returned the gentleman, "a few of us are endeavouring to raise a fund to buy the Poor some meat and drink and means of warmth. We choose this time, because it is a time, of all others, when Want is keenly felt, and Abundance rejoices. What shall I put you down for?"

"Nothing!" Scrooge replied.

"You wish to be anonymous?"

"I wish to be left alone," said Scrooge. "Since you ask me what I wish, gentlemen, that is my answer. I don't make merry myself at Christmas and I can't afford to make idle people merry. I help to support the establishments I have mentioned -- they cost enough]

I say anyone who attempts suicide should be forced into a workhouse. Oh! I forgot working for a Japanese company IS the same as a workhouse. Maybe we could use 'The Treadmill and Poor Law' but I can't find any reference as to what that is.

[Mulboyne]

CBC: 5 found dead in car in western Japan in apparent group suicide
Five bodies were found Wednesday in a car parked by a river in western Japan in what apparently was the latest in a string of group suicides, police said. The four men and a woman, all of them believed to be in their 20s, were found slumped in their seats inside a car parked by a river in Takashima, about 340 kilometres west of Tokyo, Shiga prefectural police spokesman Takaaki Tanaka said. Tanaka said the five people had no apparent injuries and investigators believed they died in a group suicide. It was not immediately known whether they left a suicide note. Police believe the five died of carbon-monoxide poisoning from charcoal burned in a stove inside the car, with all windows tightly shut.

[Mulboyne]

Kyodo via Yahoo: 3 people found dead in car in Saitama Pref
Three people were found dead in a car in Chichibu, Saitama Prefecture, on Saturday in a suspected group suicide, police said. The police tentatively identified the three as a 20-year-old man, a man in his 30s and a 46-year-old woman. The three apparently died of carbon monoxide poisoning as three charcoal stoves were found in the vehicle, the police said. The windows of the car were sealed from inside with adhesive tape.

[GuyJean]

Kyodo via Yahoo: 3 people found dead in car in Saitama Pref

Hhhhhmmm. Who would do such a thing?

I saw this in the Random Nihonjin thread and instantly thought 'They'll Miss Me When I'm Dead' would be a perfect title.

GJ

[Mulboyne]

They do things differently in Korea...

ChosunIlbo: Couple Meets through Online Chatting, Commits Double Suicide
A couple in their 20s who met in an online chat room committed suicide by drinking poison. The bodies of Mr. Hong, a 28-year-old man from Anyang, Gyeonggi Province, and Ms. Park, a 24-year-old woman from Daegu, were found in a motel in Suwon, Gyeonggi Province, around 5:20 p.m. Tuesday. Two suicide notes and a one-liter plastic bottle with poison were found in the room...Park wrote that she was not involved in any kind of relationship with the person with whom she had drunken poison. She said she met Hong, a person with the same goal as she, by chance through online chatting, and she asked people not to misunderstand the nature of their relationship.

[L S]

... she asked people not to misunderstand the nature of their relationship.

Ya, please don't think I was dating this guy or anything intimate like that...we just wanted to kill ourselves together.

Man, what happened to the good ol' days of Romeo and Juliet!? No romance or passion left in this world!

***

[FG Lurker]

... she asked people not to misunderstand the nature of their relationship.

Ya, please don't think I was dating this guy or anything intimate like that...we just wanted to kill ourselves together.

Man, what happened to the good ol' days of Romeo and Juliet!? No romance or passion left in this world!

***

Yeah, wouldn't want anyone to think she was hooked up with some loser who wanted to kill himself.........oh, wait....

[Mulboyne]

MDN: Japan's high suicide rate triggers gov't action
The Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications has decided to implement measures this year to curb Japan's high number of suicides, which hit 34,427 in 2003, the sixth year in a row that the number has topped 30,000. The ministry will seek advice from about 180 people, including health center and nonprofit organization workers, and use examples from local governments to take concrete steps this year to prevent suicides...more...

[Captain Japan]

MDN: Japan's high suicide rate triggers gov't action
The Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications has decided to implement measures this year to curb Japan's high number of suicides, which hit 34,427 in 2003, the sixth year in a row that the number has topped 30,000. The ministry will seek advice from about 180 people, including health center and nonprofit organization workers, and use examples from local governments to take concrete steps this year to prevent suicides...more...

Ok, the tally for 2004, anyone want to bet? Over 36,000?

[kurohinge1]

MDN: Japan's high suicide rate triggers gov't action
The Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications has decided to implement measures this year to curb Japan's high number of suicides, which hit 34,427 in 2003, the sixth year in a row that the number has topped 30,000. ...

Ok, the tally for 2004, anyone want to bet? Over 36,000?

And remember, if they're not found, they won't count. So Let's Body Spotting

[Mulboyne]

Kyodo: Woman, 3 children found dead in car with charcoal briquettes
A woman and three children were found dead Saturday morning in a parked passenger car in Kumagaya, Saitama Prefecture, police said. Burnt charcoal briquettes were found on the passenger seat. The police suspect the woman committed suicide, killing her children along with herself, and are working to identify the bodies. The car, found on a street near a park in the city of Kumagaya, belongs to a 29-year-old female resident of the city who has been missing since Tuesday, police said. Police said the car was found by a passerby at around 9 a.m. The woman, who appeared to be about 30 years old, was in the driver's seat, and the three children -- a boy about 10, a girl about 6 or 7, and another girl about 3 or 4 -- were in the back seat.

[dimwit]