This is a blog that I wrote in May for the Junior Year Abroad Network, and I want to share it here:
The Japanese take great pride in having the most punctual train system in the world. If there is a delay on the Tokyo metro, more often than not it means that a suicide has just occurred. I can vouch for this first hand: As I walked into the Tokyo metro last week an announcement warned that the trains were delayed- I was facing a wait of perhaps an hour or more for a train that normally runs at 2 min intervals. My companion, who has been living in Japan for a year, told me quite matter-of-factly that someone had committed suicide by jumping in front of a train, “it happens at least twice a week.” It therefore comes as no surprise that the JR Yamanote metro line in Tokyo plans to install anti-suicide barriers on platforms at all 29 stations by 2017 in an attempt to prevent this nuisance. Meanwhile, the train companies have instituted a “delay fee” of approximately 100 million yen (1 million dollars) that must be paid by the families of those who chose to use the trains as their means of suicide. This fine was introduced in the hope that it would serve as a deterrent. After all, there are several less expensive and disruptive ways to commit suicide.
As it turns out, train suicides in Japan account for less than 2% of the total suicides in this country, which have exceeded the 30,000 mark each year for the past 10 years. This places Japan amongst the top 3 industrialized countries in terms of suicide rate. The most frequent means of suicide in Japan is hanging, in contrast to the use of guns for suicide in the U.S. (guns are banned in Japan). ”The Perfect Suicide Manual”, a brief treatise with instructions on how to commit suicide by hanging and 10 other equally gruesome methods (and compares them in terms of pain, speed and disfigurement), sold over two million copies in Japan, with over two thirds of the sales just within Tokyo. The author of this bestseller, Wataru Tsurumi, a sociology graduate of Tokyo University, commented:
“It is important that people realise that suicide is not wrong. It is the right of every individual to kill themselves and, no matter what laws you enact, you cannot stop it.”
Is this the same world of Pikachu-bliss, shrine-serenity, arcade-heaven, and udon-ecstasy that drew me to Japan? Suicide doesn’t seem to fit with my expectations.
Who is committing suicide?
The largest demographic of those committing suicide in Japan are 51-60 year old males, oftentimes high ranking government officials and corporate executives. Men and women over 50 account for the majority of all suicides.
According to a report in the newspaper, Asahi Shimbun, on the evening of December 9, 2009 four people committed suicide within a two hour period in the Tokyo area by jumping in front of trains:
“At 5:15 p.m. that day, a 51-year-old man from Ibaraki Prefecture died after being hit by a train at a JR station in Tokyo’s Chiyoda Ward.
A JR employee and several passengers saw the man jump on the track from the platform. Although no suicide note was found, the man had a history of suicide attempts.
At 5:55 p.m., a 65-year-old man was killed by a train after entering a Keisei Line railway crossing in Tokyo’s Katsushika Ward. The man had no job, was on welfare and lived in a cheap lodging house in Tokyo’s Sanya district. According to his friends, the man’s health had been deteriorating.
At 6:09 p.m., a woman believed to be a foreign national was run over by a JR train in Saitama. She had been staying in Japan for the birth of her grandchild. “I had lots of stress because of the difference in the language and lifestyle (in Japan),” she said in a suicide note.
At 7:25 p.m., a pharmacist jumped toward an oncoming train from a station platform on the Tokyu Line in Yamato, Kanagawa Prefecture. The contents of the shoulder bag he had with him were scattered around the site, including a memo that said, “I’m sorry.”
Why is suicide so prevalent here?
There is no single answer to this question. Economic woes, highly stressful jobs, loss of honor or compromised integrity, stigmas surrounding mental illness, and deteriorating health, are all considered major precipitating factors. The fact that suicide has a history of being an honorable practice, coupled with the fact that there are neither legal or religious prohibitions, contributes to a cultural acceptance of suicide amongst the Japanese.
Honorable suicides started in Japan in the form of seppuku (stomach cutting): a ritual suicide originally used by samurai warriors as a part of an honor code. The ritual was used for a warrior to die with respect, rather than be captured or killed by the enemy. Japanese suicide was brought to America’s attention in World War II by the kamikaze fighters: these fighters would rig their planes with bombs and explosives and dive into enemy ships.
Following the surrender of Japan in 1945, dozens of Japanese committed seppuku on the grounds of the Imperial Palace. In 1970, author, poet and playright Yukio Mishima committed seppuku following a failed attempt at a right-wing coup d’etat aimed at restoring the powers of the emperor. He had reportedly meticulously planned the ritualized suicide over a period of a year.
Japan does not criminalize suicide, unlike many US states where attempting suicide is an offense that could lead to arrest or seizure of property. In so far as legal codes are are reflection of society’s values, this reinforces the notion that suicide is tolerated amongst the Japanese. Furthermore Japan’s most popular religions, Shinto and Buddhism, have no proscription against suicide- in contrast to Christianity, Judaism, and Islam, all of which proscribe suicide.
In an article released by the World Health Organization titled ‘Suicide and Suicide Prevention in Asia’ there is mention of the possible effect religion plays in suicide:
Buddhism extols the value of human life, for birth as a human being is the culmination of the individual’s efforts through many previous cycles of birth, and a step on the way to ultimate enlightenment. Suicide is therefore seen as an empty act, which will lead to unpleasant consequences such as the loss of a child in the next rebirth. Predominantly Buddhist countries, however, have relatively high suicide rates. For example, the rates in Japan, the Republic of Korea and Sri Lanka are 25.3, 26.1 and 23.9 per 100,000, respectively (see Chapter 1). The exception is Thailand, where the rate is 6.3 per 100,000, and where taking one’s own life is believed to lead to condemnation to hell for 500 lifetimes.
In response to criticism blaming his suicide manual for contributing to the rising suicide rate in Japan, author Tsurami cautions “No one ever killed themselves just because of my book. The authorities are blaming me because they are unwilling to take responsibility for the economic, political and social problems that are the real cause of suicides.”
As I wait patiently in the underground train station for an hour with visions of a body being removed from the tracks, I am left with a sobering view of Japanese culture beneath the surface.
