Project Reach: Japan

Suicides in Japan have increased sharply this year in spite of nationwide efforts to deal with the problem. This trend is causing widespread concern among organizations involved in suicide prevention.

A police report said the number of people who killed themselves in the first half of 2009 rose by 4.7 percent over last year for a six month total of 17,076, a rise of 768 over the same period last year. If this pace continues, suicide prevention experts fear that total suicides for 2009 may exceed the record number of 34,427 suicides in 2003.

Japan has averaged more than 30,000 suicides annually during the past 10 years. About 30% of this year's increase is attributed to individuals who had financial problems due to the economic recession.

Tragically, the majority of suicides are men who are still in their 30s. Telephone suicide counseling organizations report many young men in their 30s are calling in to discuss their despair about the difficulty in finding a job. The main increases in suicides are occurring in the regions of Osaka, Yokohama, and Tokyo.

Suicide intervention strategies were launched by the government as early as the year 2000 with the Diet passing measures to deal with suicide countermeasures in 2006, and the establishment of the Center for Suicide Prevention in the same year.

A comprehensive suicide prevention initiative involving the national and local governments, and related NPOs and NGOs was also established in recent years to focus efforts on workplace, school,
and hospital interventions.

The mission of these government and private organizations is to a) prevent suicide and provide support for survivors in order to create a stable society where people can lead healthy meaningful lives, b) train mental health workers in suicide countermeasures at the prefectural and local levels, c) counsel suicide attempters and survivors, d) increase training for clinical psychologists and psychiatric social workers, and e) further coordinate activities throughout the country.

Recently, there have been collaborative meetings of suicide prevention experts at the regional level in the Tohoku district of northern Japan, and in Tokyo to discuss the future direction of prevention strategies.

Suggestions raised at these meetings include 1) focusing preventive efforts on high risk groups, for example, those over 65 years of age, and younger people in their 30s, 2) raising the level of attention given to the connection between mental illnesses and suicide, 3) increasing the awareness of businesses and schools to spot and offer help to employees and students who appear to be at risk, and 4) providing more preventive information to the public at large to seek counseling and support if people feel they are being pushed over the edge by depression and feelings of hopelessness.

Urgent changes are needed to cope with this intensifying social problem, according to an interview with Yasuyuki Shimizu of the non-profit group Life Link. Additionally, Yukiko Nishihara, founder of Tokyo Suicide Prevention Centre, was quoted as saying, we have to do something to help before people become so desperate. Shimizu also warned that people take their lives for a complicated mix of reasons, and criticized fragmented government prevention programs.

Japan has one of the world's highest suicide rates in spite of its high standard of living, according to the World Health Organisation (WHO). The highest rates of suicide reported by WHO are in the former Soviet bloc countries.

The Nippon Foundation supports the suicide prevention efforts of several NPOs in Japan, particularly their efforts to inform the public about suicide risks through educational programs and personal counselling.