(9 more) Tokyo car suicides

[bin.dare]

Japanese police are investigating two cases of group suicides after nine people were found dead in cars yesterday. The bodies of three men and three women were found just west of Tokyo and three others in a car 50 miles away. Charcoal stoves generating deadly carbon monoxide were found inside the cars.

Japan has been hit by a series of group suicide pacts, many by strangers who get to know each other through suicide websites.

http://observer.guardian.co.uk/international/story/0,6903,1406845,00.html

Some background on these sad happenings (18 so far in February):
http://www.pimejapan.com/society/articolo_13102004a.htm

Internet suicide for existentially-troubled youth
Tokyo, 13 October 2004

"There are seven people in our car. We are going to commit suicide." This is the phone text message one of the young people who committed suicide yesterday sent to a friend just before dying, this according to the daily Asahi Shinbun.

Police reported that a 21-year-old man relayed a message to a friend living in Sapporo, hundreds of kilometres from where the tragedy took place, announcing his death. The dead man was also from that city. Speaking to Asahi, the man who received the message said that his "friend would check out a site on group suicides. As far as I know, he did not personally know any such groups. I think that he got in touch with Jisatsu Websaito (the suicide website)".

On Tuesday October 12, in the early morning, the police found the bodies of seven young people –three women and four men– inside a van parked in a mountainous area in Saitama prefecture. Windows were sealed with duct tape. Inside, four rentan charcoal stoves produced the carbon monoxide that killed the victims.

Some brief notes were found near the bodies. One that was found near a woman said: "Mum will die but I am happy to have given birth to you".

In a sombre press release the police said that it was a suspected "case of mass suicide planned via the internet, the worst case of the last few years".

On the same day, the bodies of two young women (respectively 21- and 27-year-old) were found in a car near the city of Yokosuka, not far from Yokohama. Both had committed suicide in the same way. In a note, the two women wrote in a note: "This is not murder. We planned this together. Do not suspect anyone else". Since the two women were from different cities, police suspect that they, too, met online before agreeing to die together.

The police report that so far this year there were 12 incidents of mass suicide planned online, a phenomenon that is on the rise.

Journalist Shibui Tetsuya, an expert in the field, explains that "those who want to commit suicide do not want to suffer the consequences of failure. If they really want to die, they try to find accomplices who can help in preparing the act and make sure of its success. This is why a suicide information website was set up. Moreover, some of those who join have little conviction but end up under the spell of those who are more decided and cannot back out".

Youth experts claim that for the past two decades young Japanese have been rebelling against the Japan Inc. model. Traditional choices such as hyper-commitment to work and educational prowess no longer satisfy the younger generations. Many young people opt for extreme choices such as joining violent sects or committing suicide.

[Bluebear]

1. Good heavens.

This world is going mad.

[benburch]

2. Of course...

the GOP wants to make-over the American workforce in the image of Japan.

[Lydia Leftcoast]

26. Actually, no

The Japanese workforce is being made over in the image of the U.S., with outsourcing to China, loss of employment stability, and fewer benefits.

[makhno]

37. Indeed

From what I understand, the disruption of traditional economic structures and the associated social contract is one of the main reasons behind group suicides, isolation and other youth phenomena we read about. The despair is very real.

[ckramer]

3. Iraqi suicide bombers died for the country, but what are these

Japanese cults died for?

[stillcool]

5. Freedom?

[Rican1]

4. There's a Japanese horror movie called "Suicide Club"

which came out around 2002. It is a frightening, gory, depressing, and poignant movie. It says a lot about our society today not just Japanese society.

[baba]

11. I saw that movie.

It was HORRIBLE to watch. I saw it as a metaphor for youth conformity in Japanese society. Unfortunately, it is all too real.

[okawari22]

6. Like a career, though short-lived

They can collect life insurance, having paid premiums five years or more IIRC. Success.

[tlcandie]

7. It will become more rampant... IMO

They do not want to become another USofA. Can we blame them? What about all of the youth of this world? Is there hope? Can they see it? Are we offering it to them?

Continual war
Drastic/devastating earth changes (tsunami/hurricanes, etc.)
Corporation liars/cheats
MSM lies/cheats/pushes propaganda
Rampant control/manipulation among countries/governments/politicians/ corporations
Oceans dying
Ice melting
Species dying/becoming extinct
Rainforest deforestation
Waters polluted/drying up
Poor keep getting poorer/Rich richer...
Rights being walked all over
Police states
Star Wars
Oil wars
Nuclear rearmament


Hell, as an adult I'm barely towing the line of holding on to a sliver of hope... I can NOT imagine being young in this day and age. My heart cries out for their loss/sadness/depression/hopelessness...

May Light find and fill the darkest corners where hopelessness resides. May each of us find OUR Light and beam it to the darkest recesses to bring even a glimmer of hope for our brothers and sisters to hold on to during these changes...

:cry:

[d.l.Green]

8. Same here- ugh! Looking over your list it looks like Republican campaign

issues. Makes you wonder- maybe it's we who are crazy.

[sonicx]

9. Japan's suicide rate is one of the highest in the world...

they did a movie about it and many think it caused an increase.

[American Renaissance]

10. a japanese friend was talking about this,

She came of age living in California and when her family moved back she just couldn't deal with the place. She hates the people, especially the men, she hates the entire society. She moved back to the US and insists she will never step foot in Japan again.

The freepers talking about France have nothing on her,

As she says, "behind the neon light, fancy cell phones and positive stereotypes, Japan is the most fucked up place on earth"

[rayofreason]

23. Japan

I have a Japanese friend who (with his Japanese wife) had kids while living in the US. The kids when to "Japanese school" - a weekend school to learn Japanese writing and culture, and my friend kept a very Japanese household. After 8 years they returned to Japan. It was a disaster. The older child was continuosly picked on for being a "foreigner" in school, and the bullying got so bad that, in fear for his life, they had to move back to the US, where they live now.

I love visiting Japan, and there is much of value in their culture and sense of the aesthetic. But there are also serious pathologies. The Hikikomori are one example.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hikikomori

[American Renaissance]

27. similar story,

She lasted about a year and a half, it was just awful for her, although she could speak reasonable japanese, she couldn't read or write it.

She is loud, she is aggressive, she is also tall and full figured. Not exactly the stereotypical japanese woman.

She had no life, she only left home to goto school. She told her parents she was going to goto Disney World with her friends from California and she never came back.

[Zech Marquis]

28. there's the word I was looking for

Hikkikomori--social hermits :-(

[hector459]

30. Are material "we" becoming like them?

Our country is bigger so the carziness is spread out but everything you find in Japan you can find here including group suicides.

[Art_from_Ark]

31. Japan is hardly the worst place on earth

Speaking as one who has been working in Japan for nearly two decades, and who has kids in the Japanese public school system, I would have to strongly disagree with that sentiment. However, I will also admit that it might have to do with one's personal situation in the country, which may, for example, be different in the rustbelt areas than in the economically robust areas. It may also be different between relatively cosmopolitan areas and rural areas.

[American Renaissance]

32. not quite the same,

The experience of someone who has been in japan for nearly 20 years is going to be a whole lot different that that of someone who left when she was six years old, raised as an all american girl then thrust into a foreign land at the age of 17.

She didn't say it was the worst place on earth, she said it was the most socially fucked up place on earth.

[Art_from_Ark]

33. Still quite an exaggeration

She didn't find her niche as a teenager returning to the land of her birth. That hardly means that the whole society is screwed up. The same thing can happen to any teenager who is suddenly thrust into a different environment, even in the same country. Imagine, for example, a teenager being taken out of a school in Manhattan and having to resettle-- and start all over again-- in Podunk, Georgia. Or vice versa.

[spinbaby]

35. It's different if you're Japanese

If you look Japanese, you're expected to act Japanese. If you're Japanese, but didn't grow up in Japan, you don't know the social code, and things can get very difficult. I loved visiting Japan but I'm a westerner so no one expected me to know squat.

[Art_from_Ark]

38. If some kid named John Smith spent his formative years in Tokyo,

developing friendships, and learning what he needed to know to pass through the Japanese school system but lacking in adequate English language skills, knowledge of American history, etc., then was suddenly moved back to the States at 17 and made to attend Joe Blow High in Hootinholler, Texas, he would probably feel the same way that Japanese girl felt.

[WetBarNone]

12. Selfish Idiots

The people left behind that cared for these selfish cowards are the people I care about. Suicide outside of terminal physical illness is inexcusable.

[antigone382]

13. what about terminal mental illness?

Mental illness IS real, and it does cause people to commit suicide, sometimes even when they make every effort to get help. You can't blame them for that. We don't expect people with cancer or AIDS to just "snap out of it," why do we expect it of people with severe depression, PTSD, etc.?

I can understand your point, and I empathize with the family members of suicide victims. But with the deplorable way our society treats those with psychological problems, we have no business judging them when they see no way out.

Also, FWIW, Japanese culture and literature traditionally features a very prominant suicide motif, which I think is reflected in the actions of these individuals and others like them.

[WetBarNone]

15. Mental illness has more chance of solution

Even if it takes LSD, E or other drugs they should be used before allowing a mental case exit.

[daleo]

14. If you cared about survivors, you wouldn't call their loved ones idiots.

Or selfish, or that their actions are inexcusable. Maybe you had a loved one die by suicide, and are still angry about it. But you can't assume to speak for others on such a sensitive subject. I have had some close people go by suicide and the last thing I needed was to have friends or family called idiots or selfish.

[WetBarNone]

18. The only selfish idiots are those that off themselves at the cost others

Read my other posts that excuse only the terminally ill.

[daleo]

21. I read it and I didn't agree with it.

We will leave it at that.

[sonicx]

16. Your hate rhetoric is useless...

http://www.jca.apc.org/web-news/corpwatch-jp/47.html

[WetBarNone]

19. The only hate is in your link

"TOKYO (Reuters) - In November last year, an unemployed Japanese factory
worker drove his car into the sea near Tokyo, taking his life as well as
those of his wife and three young children."

This idiot that took out his wife and kids is the selfish idiot.

I have explained the only reason to off yourself and this murderer and selfish moron does not fit the bill.

[sonicx]

22. still useless

[WetBarNone]

25. Yes, a very useless murder / suicide on the side of this moron

No pity for a murderer or unjustified suicide.

[GRLMGC]

24. wow

Being so hateful and holier than thou must be exhausting

[Susang]

29. Your compassion for and understanding of mental illness is overwhelming

Truly.

[KurtNYC]

36. It is hard to fathom but at least they didn't derail 3 trains

and kill a dozen people who didn't want to die like that SUV driver in California.

[Rex]

17. What the hell?

Reminds me of those people out on the west coast. Dressed all in white and committed mass suicide so that they could be with aliens.

Makes no sense to me.

[Zech Marquis]

20. Japanese society is REALLY suffering

The very idea of people meeting online to arrange for group suicide just..just scary! :-( Japanese young adults face extreme pressure--all or nothing exams troughout their school years--even kindergarten students! (the infamous exam hell IIRC) Japanese women are expected to get married, have kids, and stay home. That's not happening. My ex happens to be one--she chose to work rather than get married and settle down. We broke up because--surprise--that her having children would make her life more complicated 9ie, she would have been expected to retire immediately after getting married) Princess Masako, who was a trained diplomat, was pressured so much to have a son heir, she had to withdraw from public appearances due to severe depression.

Japan is is seriosu serious trouble. :-(

[Art_from_Ark]

34. Things aren't quite that grim over here

Group suicide is still extremely rare, and most kids don't have to take a test to get into kindergarten, or elementary school, but many students do opt for private junior high school (but they can always attend a public junior high school). Everyone does have to study for their high school entrance exam, and that's where most of the stress comes in. The problem is that most slots for "good" public high schools fill up rather quickly (students usually don't go to their neighborhood high schools), and students who don't make the grade, so to speak, have to settle for a "lesser" public high school, or a private school. Or they can study on their own for another year so they can try again for the public school they want to enter. Or they can get a job.

But women don't automatically have to quit their jobs after they get married. Most of them do elect to stay home after the first baby (and most Japanese women will INSIST on having a baby after they get married), because they believe that it's best to look after their kids themselves at that age. But once the kids reach school age, mothers will often reenter the workforce, albeit on a part-time basis so they can be home when the kids come back from school.

[Generic Other]

39. How do we encourage Repubs to take up this hobby?

Maybe we should post this at Freeperville? Give 'em some stupid ideas. To add to their other stupid ideas.

:)