It has claimed the lives of everyone from elementary school students to the
elderly in the past year alone. But suicide is affecting one group in
particular.
Men in their 40s and 50s accounted for 11,287 of Japan’s
34,427 suicide victims in 2003 according to data published by the National
Police Agency (NPA) in July.
This generation is rapidly becoming Japan’s
suicide generation and the nation is starting to take notice.
A Tradition of Suicide
High suicide rates are nothing new to Japan.
The annual number of deaths has been over 30,000 a year since 1998 when the
figure rose by approximately 8,500 to 32,863.
However, 2003 was a record year. A record that put in context equates to
approximately 95 suicides a day or one every fifteen minutes. One man aged
between 40 and 59 now commits suicide every 48 minutes.
In recent years Japanese have had a far greater chance of dying by their own
hands rather than dying in a traffic accident. In 2002 only 8,326 Japanese died
on the roads compared to the country’s 32,143 suicides that year.
Perhaps more striking is that compared to other leading causes of death,
suicide now ranks sixth behind cancers, heart diseases and other illnesses.
What's Behind the Rise?
Not only is Japan
now beginning to ask itself about the suicide problem, it is also asking why
suicide taking such a toll on middle-aged men.
There is no simple answer. Rather, there are many factors that vary between
demographics. Not surprisingly NPA data shows ill health as the leading factor
among the elderly while attributing most juvenile suicides to education related
problems.
For men in their 40s and 50s the NPA’s data is equally clear. Economic
factors were behind the suicides of 2,286 of the 3,895 men in this age group
who left behind suicide notes. All this is at a time when the world’s second
largest economy appears to be showing signs of recovery.
The Nikkei is currently steady at around 11,000, which is an improvement on
the mid-2003 figure of approximately 8,500. Furthermore, Japan’s
real GDP growth rate, a key economic indicator, was positive at 2.7 percent in
2003.
Whether or not suicide rates have peaked nobody can tell. Pessimists point
to a lack of action from Prime Minister Koizumi’s government, which has
admitted there is no easy solution to the problem. They also point to high
unemployment and Japan’s
refusal to accept that a problem exists as evidence that the situation can only
get worse.
The Future
Optimists believe an increase in counseling centers, mental health clinics
and help lines, combined with an increased willingness on the part of Japanese
to use these resources, is an indicator that suicide rates may soon stop rising
and eventually decrease.
Pessimists and optimists both agree that Japan
has a large problem. Men in their 40s and 50s are taking their own lives in
record numbers that are disproportionate to the rest of society.
Driven by a combination of economic factors and cultural baggage middle-aged
men have become Japan’s
suicide generation.