Suicide in Japan: personal experience?

Sorry for such a morbid topic, but after reading a recent news story about twin sisters who jumped to their deaths in Saitama the other day (hiltonjapan.com/2008/01/dying-tradition-suicide-in-japan.html) I've been wondering what direct experience people have had with suicide in Japan.
Have you ever been affected by suicide in Japan (having to get off the train and transfer to a bus, loosing someone you knew etc.)? And if so, how did it affect your opinion of Japan, if at all?

I lost a Japanese friend to suicide in 2006. I think it had much to do with the Japanese stance on suicide and his morbid influences from Visual Kei. Still, as with any other country, there will be those individuals that will use whatever given reason to carry out their deaths, independent of cultural views. I just think suicide in Japan is carried out as often as it is and with pairs or groups due to views on (dis)honor and collectivism.

Most people are making suicide because of great stress, is it society's fault, loss of dear people, abuse, any kind of physical and/or psychological trauma.
70% of suicide where directly caused by society, look at schools where a lot people are daily bullying someone. Imagine that you are the one who gets bullied. After time, before you are going to school, you will not think what a beautiful day will be today or what new great things you will learn, but in reality only thing what you will think about is that how today you will be get bullied, or who will be picking on you today. The psychological stress will accumulate each day + if you have family problems or other difficulty's. After a time the emotional stress is so great that you will think about suicide, how to commit it, or make a revenge too. Afterwards there is only a little catalysator needed and it vill be too late... .

Its no different in Japan than in other country's the reasons are the same.
For some reasons I have already got a sword to commit a "senpoku", but still I am clinging, hanging to this world and I don't know why.

The only personal experience I've had with regards to Japanese 'style' suicide is seeing them pull a body off the tracks at my home station when I was living there. I had missed the actual jump by less than 5 minutes I think. It was pretty morbid but I didn't feel disturbed or anything. Actually I think suicide is such an accepted part of Japanese society that most people weren't too phased by it. I'm sure everyone knew what was going on but most people were carrying on in conversation as if nothing had happened.

I was with my fellow teachers on the train when it stopped in the middle of nowhere. Apparently there was a suicide up ahead (those who spoke Japanese translated). The westerners of our group were pretty shocked, however we did notice that everyone else didn't even bat an eyelid and just continued on with whatever they were doing. It was surreal.

I had a friend of mine whose father took his own life a couple years ago. I was actually with him and his fiance' at the time and remember when he got the news. It was quite a shock for him and I knew both he and his younger sister were terribly traumatized by the event. He's since gotten married and moved to America actually. Haven't spoken with him in a couple months now, I am sure he is doing well though these days. I've also had a similar experience as the one mentioned above by Kasie. Yeah, that certainly felt surreal at the time.

bakaKanadajin said:

The only personal experience I've had with regards to Japanese 'style' suicide is seeing them pull a body off the tracks at my home station when I was living there. I had missed the actual jump by less than 5 minutes I think. It was pretty morbid but I didn't feel disturbed or anything. Actually I think suicide is such an accepted part of Japanese society that most people weren't too phased by it. I'm sure everyone knew what was going on but most people were carrying on in conversation as if nothing had happened.

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While it makes sense, its still so damn hard to accept it. Its a sad thing to see someone leave the ring, defeated and robbed of everything.

I've been on two trains that were stopped due to suicides. I found it strange, because suicide tends to be more private where I live, usually in ones home. In Japan it's done more in the open, or at least that's how it seems.

But there are hotels in Japan in some areas that are reluctant to rent to lone travelers , because they assume you've come there to commit suicide (often done by hanging oneself with a belt).

Even so, traveling to hotel, you are more likely to be found, and hotels are filled with people. I believe suicide is more in the open in Japan for sure....

Well...studies have shown that when a person's about to comit a suicide, he or she shows a lot of signs that many people may fail to interpret...
I can't really relate to suicide in Japan but a friend of mine did commit such an act a few years ago while I was in the UK...and thinking back, I can't help but think that I might have been able to prevent that...

I didn't have a direct experience with it but a Japanese friend explain to me that in Japan is not something extraordinary and is coming from their different view on life and dead, honor, afterlife etc.

On the other hand during Roman Empire it was also a normal thing in the west so I guess Christianity change most of our view on suicide. In the moment it became a sin we started to think different. For example my ancestors had a very different view on life and dead. Dying was not a moment of sadness. Usually during funerals people were not crying but laughing. It was believed that the man who passed away is in a better place something similar to Valhalla for vikings. Warriors usually fight to the dead or killed them selfs instead of surrender.

Fighting to mock the foe and killing yourself is different imo. Its not that suicide is a crime, it obviously isn't, but that doesn't mean that suicide is something nice. By crime I mean something morally wrong, not a grave mistake, which it is.

Derfel said:

Fighting to mock the foe and killing yourself is different imo. Its not that suicide is a crime, it obviously isn't, but that doesn't mean that suicide is something nice. By crime I mean something morally wrong, not a grave mistake, which it is.

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You are right but it has the same base in a way. The way you see life and dead/afterlife.
Romans also killed themselfs in the name of honor or because the emperor said so. Remember Socrate. And Off course is not nice, a man is dying and probably its more painful for the those left behind than for himself.
Killing yourself and taking your foe with you is also a form of suicide. Maybe more productive (just a joke)

A Japanese don't kill himself just because he has a breakdown, depression whatever. He is sometimes doing it to prove a point.
Anyway is also a cultural aspect and suicide is seen differently around the world and religion/tradition sometimes play a major part.

Sad that anyone should have to kill themselves to prove a point. Wouldn't it be better if we could all just talk?

A Japanese don't kill himself just because he has a breakdown, depression whatever. He is sometimes doing it to prove a point.

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And the point is that he or she can?

Death by Hydrogen Sulfide

Acording to reports, hydrogen sulfide is the gaseous form of sulfuric acid. So I presume the way it works in suicides is to burn human tissue, specifically lung tissue when it is breathed in sufficient dosage. I would alos imagine it would burn a persons eyes, nasal passage, and throat as well. The cause of death would be asphyxiation sinced burned out lungs can't take in oxygen. So there would still be some time, a few minutes maybe, from the time it is inhaled to death. During this time, I imagine the person would be suffering pretty badly. Not a pleasant way to go, at all. Just cheap and easy.

IMHO, if a person decides to check-out early (we're all goihng to die anyway), that last act should be done in style and with the least amount of pain as possible. Unless you're samurai and need to inflct as much pain upon yourself as possible to show sincere contrition and ask for atonement for your yourself and family. In that case, you would need to commit seppuku. A belly wound is one of the most painful woulnds a human being can have. It's right up there with burning to death but burning to death is a little more passive. Seppuku take real wiil power, which explains why a second samurai would often assist by lopping off the first samurai's head just after he plunges the knife into his belly. Ah, I'm digressing again. If you plan to do it in style, this is my recommendation.

Scrape together whatever money you can and buy a round trip ticket to Mexico. When you land in Mexico, go to a pharmacy and buy a whole jar of nembutal (you'll need a lot--just one or two won't do.) You won't need a prescription. Use the rest of your cash to have a good time at a cantina or resort, Cancun would be nice. The good time you have might convince you that life might still be worthwhile afterall. However, if you're still intent on going through with it, come back home--doing it in some other country makes it lose a lot of meaning. At home, write your farewell note and prepare yourself mentally--a death poem, samurai style, would be classier. Wait until night (less disturbance and you'll be more sleepy anyway) and make yourself comfortable. Put on your favorite music on the stereo and get a bottle of your favorite alcoholic beverage--beer would just not do at this time. So you have your congac, champagne, or Jack Daniels and music playing softly in the background. Sit in a comfortable chair and take a pill follwed by a drink. Then take some more pills and more drinks. Continue until you fall asleep. That's it. A perfect and peaceful way to die. And much less troublesome to others than hydrogen sulfide or jumping in fromt of the Chuo Line.

So if you know anyone who is thinking about the hydrogen sulfide thing, please pass this message along.

I'm half Japanese/American, lived in both places. I've had family members on both sides "kill themselves", not really sure about the circumstances of their deaths so I can't say for sure nor really offer insight into the differences of suicide in each culture but that's how life is. My mom always explained to me how suicide is viewed differently in Japan so it never really was an evil thing to me. I'm not saying either of us advocate it though. We weren't living in Japan when my uncle died and we're not really sure exactly how he died. I was living in another country when it happened and asked my mom about the circumstances, what the autopsy said, etc. She got a little mad, like I just didn't understand, they don't do autopsies, he's already cremated. In both cases, the relief is that we don't have to worry about them anymore. In both cases, I sometimes wonder what could we have done to arrive at a different place then where we are today. I don't know. My Japanese uncle went insane after losing everything in the stock market, became a shell of a man in mental institutions, then lived alone and ended up dead on the kitchen floor where he was probably born. He always had social problems but what happened to him is beyond that. Even if Japanese seem aloof about suicide, it still affects them greatly. On your way to work in a big city may be different though, just the usual big city vs. countryside stuff I suppose. It's always different when you knew the person.

i m really sorry to know this news.i thing in japan people are very busy and no one care each other and some one who have not job and no way to pass the time .play different type of bad thing in there mind and they feel up set then they suicide

I always wondered about this too. I really do think that it has almost become in some way part of Japanese society due to the close proximity everyone is in.

My personal experience is limited, but a teacher of mine had a dealing with it. During my time at Waseda I was talking Japanese language classes and sometimes would make some more outlandish jokes during the period of the class where we needed to make examples from what we learned. It kept things lively and made things much easier to remember... well it did in other classes.

In my Monday class the teacher was a bit, odd. She hated men and in general seemed to follow a plan to the point of idiocy even if there was no value in proceeding with such. It was the most boring of the Japanese classes. I remember we had to make a group one day and had to use what we had learned to explain how two people might solve a dispute. My answer was that they fight to the death. The teacher then said, (in Japanese) "Well, actually I just a few blocks from where I lived they arrested a guy who killed the person above his apartment because he was too noise. Just took a knife and went up and stabbed him to death!" The class, including I were a bit unsure how to react to that. Hmm buzz kill there.

A few weeks later we were in the same situation where we grouped to use new grammar or some vocabulary, my answer for solving some imaginary person's problems with his girlfriend was suicide. Then the teacher then saids that, "Actually now that you mention that two days ago when I was late for class the reason was actually that there was a suicide on the tracks. They had a blue tarp laid out and I saw them picking up fingers off the track! It was horrible!"

Not wanting to bring up traumatic memories anymore I simply kept the jokes to the other teacher's class. In addition to absolutely hating men, I felt I was giving her even more of a reason by accidentally bringing up traumatic memories without really attempting to do so. Live and learn/traumatize a poor teacher along the way.

Oddly enough I didn't feel too guilty, the class was awful and the teacher was truly incompetent. Although, it was a good way to learn that joking about suicide isn't probably the best thing to do in a Japanese Language class.


One last note: I believe that now days the family of those who jump in front of the line and kill themselves have to pay for the delay and costs incurred due to the fault of a person jumping in front to commit suicide. That adds another aspect if it is used as a revenge method, even if it was meant as a deterrent.

Bumping up this thread after 2 years, I was just browsing trough the forum and found this thread and I had the feeling to write my personal story.

A friend (24) of my wife and I whom we met in Australia (stayed together for about 5 months), committed suicide last year.

We hadn't spoken to each other for a while, so I send her a message if she wanted to meet up with my brother and I. 5minutes later I got her dad on the phone telling me that his daughter had passed away 1 month before. She dated this guy for a year, started to think to deep about things. She hung her self in her apartment, without leaving a note for her parents, although she was pretty close with them...

Strange thing was, that this girl was one of the happiest and most positive people I have ever met in my life.

My Deepest sympathy to your friend,It's weird..Japan has a hight rate of suicide.!

I have to take the Chuo line which is known for suicides. I often head to classes and have to rush out the door and any delay on the line pisses me off. The whole idea of some idiot jumping in front of the train and delaying everyone, when he could just get help, or at least kill himself by hanging or something usually frustrated me. The total lack of consideration for everyone on the train, the insensitivity when there could be kids on the train that could be traumatized.

The whole idea of my train someday getting delayed by some idiot killing themselves annoyed me. Even more so when some old 80 year old lady decided to stand on the tracks of the Chuo line even though the train had already STOPPED AT THE STATION. I swore that I'd be pissed as all hell if some ***** (Seriously? Mo ron is censored?) did that when I had to get somewhere.

Then one day the train was delayed 25 minutes because someone jumped in front of the train and killed themselves, and all those thoughts went out the window. I didn't even see any evidence of it happening, but just the thought of someone dying for no real reason gave a sense of loss for a person I never even knew but wish I could have helped. There wasn't any anger, nor was there any frustration that I was late for whatever it was that day. It was just a feeling of sadness, and confusion of what the reason was to that person, and wondering why it was always trains...

Everyone carried on as usual for the most part, but generally were shocked. Those that didn't seem to care I caught myself thinking of them rather judgmentally, even though I had just previously been thinking much harsher towards anyone who would jump in front of the train.

Most of all, the state of psychiatric help in Japan more than the cleaning crews needs serious reevaluation. I have never heard ANYTHING good said about mental health assistance in Japan.

I have never witnessed a suicide in Japan. Of course I heard about this problem and in my opinion they have to change two things if they want to reduce the number of suicides in Japan seriously: 1. change the life insurance system. No life insurance is paid to the family members (or others who are listed) if he person committed a suicide. As far as I know nowdays in Japan the family still gets the money. Train companies normally want to get their lion share from the insurance as a compensation for damages. The idea that the family will not get any life insurance money, probably will be sued by a train company and will have to pay from their pockets, might be a kind of stop thought. 2. change the criminal law. In some countries incitemet to suicide is a crime.

let`s talk said:

I have never witnessed a suicide in Japan. Of course I heard about this problem and in my opinion they have to change two things if they want to reduce the number of suicides in Japan seriously: 1. change the life insurance system. No life insurance is paid to the family members (or others who are listed) if he person committed a suicide. As far as I know nowdays in Japan the family still gets the money. Train companies normally want to get their lion share from the insurance as a compensation for damages. The idea that the family will not get any life insurance money, probably will be sued by a train company and will have to pay from their pockets, might be a kind of stop thought. 2. change the criminal law. In some countries incitemet to suicide is a crime.

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Seriously? That is hard to believe. I can't think of a single company that would be insane enough to cover suicide in life insurance... at least in the states. As for criminal law, inciting suicide isn't exactly the problem as far as I know. There aren't people on the train platform shouting "Jump!"