Helping, listening, caring: Japanese prefecture leads dramatic decrease in suicides

Taeko Watanabe, whose son Yuki who committed suicide in 2008, talks in front of his portrait at her home in Akita, Japan February 9, 2019. (REUTERS)
Updated 08 April 2019
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Helping, listening, caring: Japanese prefecture leads dramatic decrease in suicides

  • Suicide has a long history in Japan as a way to avoid shame or dishonor, and getting psychological help was stigmatized

AKITA, Japan: Taeko Watanabe awoke one cold March night and found a trail of blood in the hallway, a bloody cleaver on her son Yuki’s bed and no trace of him in the house. Then police discovered a suicide note in his bedroom.
“They found him in a canal by the temple and wrapped him in a blanket. After an autopsy, he came home in a coffin. I fell apart,” she recalled, eyes welling up as she sat by a photo of Yuki and a Buddhist altar laden with flowers and Fuji apples.
Yuki, who was 29 when he died in 2008, was one of many who committed suicide that year in Akita prefecture, 450 km north of Tokyo. For nearly two decades, Akita had the highest suicide rate in all of Japan, which itself has the highest rate in the Group of Seven.
But things have changed, Watanabe said. If her son faced the same situation now, “he would never have died. There are people who can prevent it.”
Watanabe, who contemplated suicide herself after Yuki’s death, now leads a suicide survivors group, part of national efforts that have brought Japanese suicides down by nearly 40 percent in 15 years, exceeding the government target. Akita’s are at their lowest in 40 years.
These efforts took off nationally in 2007 with a comprehensive suicide prevention plan, as academics and government agencies identified at-risk groups. In 2016, regions got more freedom to develop plans that fit local thinking.
Corporations, prompted by lawsuits from families of those who took their lives because of overwork, have made it easier to take leave; more offer psychological support, and a law caps overtime. The government mandates annual stress tests in companies with over 50 employees.
Suicide has a long history in Japan as a way to avoid shame or dishonor, and getting psychological help was stigmatized.
But when suicides hit a peak of 34,427 in 2003, it alarmed policymakers and drew foreign attention, often a catalyst for change in Japan.
“For a long time, thinking was that suicide was a personal problem and so the government didn’t really deal with it — not just Akita, but the whole country,” said Hiroki Koseki, an Akita civil servant in charge of suicide prevention.

POOR, ELDERLY, ALONE
Suicides have multiple causes, but experts say Akita has so many because of its remoteness, lack of jobs, long winters, a large number of isolated and lonely elderly, and accumulating debt.
In 1999, Akita’s governor became the first in Japan to budget for suicide prevention. Amid positive media coverage, citizen and volunteer suicide prevention groups sprung up. Akita, with a population of just 981,000, now has one of the largest citizen help networks in Japan.
“Because it was a personal problem, even governments said tax money shouldn’t be used. That paradigm shift occurred in Akita; the rest of Japan followed,” said Yutaka Motohashi, director of the Japan Support Center for Suicide Countermeasures, who worked in Akita in the 1990s identifying at-risk groups. Akita began depression screening, and public health workers checked in on at-risk people. There was also enthusiastic participation by volunteers such as Hisao Sato, who fought depression for years after his business failed in 2000.
“During that time one of my friends threw himself off a bridge and others had companies fail,” added Sato, 75, whose own father probably committed suicide. “I was angry, I wanted them not to be forced to choose suicide.”
To help, in 2002 he created “Kumonoito,” or Spiderweb, a network of lawyers and financial experts offering practical help. About 60 percent of his funding comes from the Akita government; the rest is from donations.
Japan’s parliament is drawing up a law to create a national organization similar to Sato’s.
“A business failure isn’t just an economic problem, it’s also a human problem,” Sato said.

GATEKEEPERS
Akita also has an ever-growing network of “gatekeepers” — people trained to identify those contemplating suicide and, if needed, put them in touch with help. Anybody can undergo several hours of training from Akita public health personnel and take part.
“Basically, everybody is part of community suicide prevention. It’s everybody’s business,” Motohashi said.
Japan’s national barbers’ association has called on its members to get training, though few have so far. But 3,000 people in Akita have been trained since 2017 and the goal is 10,000, or one for each 100 people, by 2022.
Akita also has volunteer “listeners” — people like 79-year-old Ume Ito, who talks to at-risk people, many of whom are elderly, for hours at a time.
“About 70-80 percent of those we deal with say they want to die, but while they talk they stop thinking about suicide and eventually say, ‘I’m looking forward to seeing you,’” she said.
One of her clients is Sumiko, 73, bedridden after a fall. She spends her days alone until her son’s family returns at night.
“I thought I’d be stuck in bed the rest of my life. Is this it for me? I thought I’d lose my mind,” said Sumiko, who declined to give her last name.
“If she wasn’t coming it’d be so depressing. I can’t tell my family everything in my heart and darkness remains,” she added, smiling at Ito. “I tell my son: being listened to saved me.”
Akita’s suicide rate has fallen from a high of 44.6 per 100,000 in 2003 to 20.7 in 2018, according to preliminary data — a drastic improvement, but still the sixth-highest nationally.
Japan’s suicides have fallen from the 2003 peak to 20,598 while the rate dropped from 27 per 100,000 to 16.3. The government aims to hit 13 per 100,000 by 2027. By contrast, the suicide rate in the US, with more than twice Japan’s population, was 14 per 100,000 in 2017.

SHADOW ON SUCCESS
But 543 Japanese 19 and younger killed themselves in 2018, a 30-year high.
Youth suicides were given unprecedented importance in a 2017 suicide-prevention plan, with counsellors now at many schools, often starting in primary grades, said Ryusuke Hagiwara, who works on suicide prevention at the Health Ministry.
Japanese youths often drop out of community activities and focus on school affairs by junior high, limiting possible confidants.
“Just at the time when stress increases for them, their world narrows,” said Yoshiaki Takahashi, a suicide researcher with the Nakasone Peace Institute. “We need to open things out.”
Education Ministry pamphlets aimed at primary school children allow them, through cheery comics, to assess how they’re feeling, teaching stress-reduction measures such as deep breathing and encouraging them to seek help.
“If we teach children it’s okay to get help, and how, they’ll be more open to it later too,” Akita’s Koseki said. “Raising adults like this may help reduce future suicides.”


Sri Lanka Buddhists overwhelm city in bid to see Buddha's sacred tooth

Updated 24 April 2025
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Sri Lanka Buddhists overwhelm city in bid to see Buddha's sacred tooth

  • Four people died and hundreds fell sick while waiting in lengthy queues to see a sacred tooth in the city of Kandy
  • Police said 32 buses were turned away because the city had run out of parking space

COLOMBO: Buddhists flocking to see a sacred tooth in Sri Lanka were urged by authorities to stay away on Thursday after four people died and hundreds fell sick while in lengthy queues.
Regional police chief Lalith Pathinayake said queues in the city of Kandy were already 10 kilometers (six miles) long as Buddhists waited to worship what they believe to be a tooth of the Buddha — a special showing of the relic that will end on Sunday.
Officials estimated there were around 450,000 people in queues on Thursday morning, more than double the expected daily number of 200,000.
“At the rate the queue is moving, even those already in line this morning may not be able to enter the temple,” Deputy Inspector General Pathinayake said. “We appeal to the people not to come to Kandy.”
The city’s main state-run hospital reported more than 300 people had been admitted after falling ill while spending days in cramped conditions. Four people, including an older woman, were pronounced dead on admission.

At the rate the queue is moving, even those already in line this morning may not be able to enter the temple

Lalith Pathinayake, regional police chief

More than 2,000 people who fainted while standing in line were treated at 11 mobile health units, local officials said.
“We are trying to avoid a stampede,” said Sarath Abeykoon, the governor of the province. “Health authorities have raised concerns about sanitation.”
The railway department said it was suspending all additional trains to the city because authorities were already overwhelmed by the number of pilgrims.
Police commandos were deployed to move thousands of pilgrims away from an old bridge that officials warned could collapse due to the excessive weight on it.
Police said 32 buses were turned away because the city had run out of parking space.
The relic was last displayed publicly in March 2009, when an estimated one million people paid homage.
Authorities had expected around two million visitors over the 10-day exhibition this time, but that figure was surpassed within five days.


In Dubai’s Gold Souk, bullion’s record run brings little joy for jewellers

Updated 22 April 2025
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In Dubai’s Gold Souk, bullion’s record run brings little joy for jewellers

  • Bullion prices have hit record highs above $3,400 an ounce
  • US tariffs and other factors have added fire to already hot demand for gold

DUBAI: In the bustling Gold Souk in Dubai, dubbed the “City of Gold,” 22-karat gold jewelry is a traditional favorite for weddings, religious celebrations, and as a family investment.
Yet with bullion prices hitting record highs above $3,400 an ounce, there are signs of change, as buyers look to diamonds and lighter gold jewelry, instead.
While US tariffs and other factors have added fire to already hot demand for gold as an investment, the impact is different for gold jewelry, according to Andrew Naylor, head of Middle East and Public Policy at the World Gold Council (WGC).
“In markets like Dubai, this creates a two-fold effect: on one hand, you see stronger interest in gold as a safe-haven asset, on the other, high prices dampen jewelry demand.”
At Dubai’s Gold Souk, retailers said they are seeing this trend, as current prices prompt shoppers to look for alternatives.
“There are no potential customers nowadays because of the gold prices,” said Fahad Khan, a sales representative at retailer Damas Jewellery.
“It’s a little bit tough to afford gold, so I think it’s better to go with diamonds,” said Lalita Dave, 52, as she browsed around the Gold Souk.
Lab-grown diamonds
Dubai has been a magnet for gold buyers for at least 80 years, starting with Iranian and Indian traders, both cultures sharing a tradition of 22-karat jewelry for adornment and investment.
Yet as gold prices rose 27 percent last year, demand for gold jewelry in the UAE fell by around 13 percent, outpacing an 11 percent drop globally, according to the WGC.
Jewellery demand could face further pressure across key regions in 2025 if gold prices remain elevated or volatile, the WGC said in its gold demand trends report published in February.
Price swings, more than price levels, are increasingly shaping consumer behavior, particularly in India, it noted.
Shifts in Indian purchasing patterns often ripple through Gulf markets such as the UAE, where buyers are a key driver of sales.
Goldman Sachs recently raised its end-2025 gold forecast to $3,700 per ounce and said prices could climb as high as $4,500.
“Higher gold prices are likely to dampen demand for jewelry, in a classic example of how the best cure for high prices is high prices,” said Russ Mould, investment director at AJ Bell.
One sign of economizing has been the rise of lab-grown diamonds.
India exported $171 million worth of lab-grown diamonds to the UAE in 2024, up almost 57 percent from $109 million two years earlier, data from the Gem and Jewellery Export Promotion Council showed.
India’s exports of cut and polished diamonds to the UAE in the April–November 2024 were up 3.7 percent.
UAE ranked third in global diamond imports in 2023, trade data shows, its primary trade partners including India, South Africa, and Belgium.
While the UAE accounted for just 1.5 percent of the global diamond jewelry market by revenue in 2023, it is projected to grow by 5.9 percent annually to reach nearly $2 billion by 2030, according to Grand View Research.
That outpaces the global growth forecast of 4.5 percent and makes the UAE the fastest growing market in the Middle East and Africa.
Trade tensions
One impact from recent trade tensions with the US has been accelerated talk about finding alternative markets and production hubs, two executives at major Indian diamond exporters said.
If tensions persist, potentially spanning years, one of the sources speaking to Reuters on condition of anonymity said his company’s contingency plans included shifting some Indian production overseas, including to the UAE.
Shamlal Ahamed, managing director of international operations at retailer Malabar Gold & Diamonds, said the rise in lab-grown diamond jewelry sales in the UAE appeared to be driven more by design preferences than pricing and he remained bullish on gold jewelry demand.
“While price-conscious buyers may wait for a dip, our experience shows that such declines are often short-lived, with buyers quickly adapting to new price levels.”


NASA’s oldest active astronaut returns to Earth on 70th birthday

Updated 20 April 2025
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NASA’s oldest active astronaut returns to Earth on 70th birthday

WASHINGTON: Cake, gifts and a low-key family celebration may be how many senior citizens picture their 70th birthday.
But NASA’s oldest serving astronaut Don Pettit became a septuagenarian while hurtling toward the Earth in a spacecraft to wrap up a seven-month mission aboard the International Space Station (ISS).
A Soyuz capsule carrying the American and two Russian cosmonauts landed in Kazakhstan on Sunday, the day of Pettit’s milestone birthday.
“Today at 0420 Moscow time (0120 GMT), the Soyuz MS-26 landing craft with Alexei Ovchinin, Ivan Vagner and Donald (Don) Pettit aboard landed near the Kazakh town of Zhezkazgan,” Russia’s space agency Roscosmos said.
Spending 220 days in space, Pettit and his crewmates Ovchinin and Vagner orbited the Earth 3,520 times and completed a journey of 93.3 million miles over the course of their mission.
It was the fourth spaceflight for Pettit, who has logged more than 18 months in orbit throughout his 29-year career.
The trio touched down in a remote area southeast of Kazakhstan after undocking from the space station just over three hours earlier.
NASA images of the landing showed the small capsule parachuting down to Earth with the sunrise as a backdrop.
The astronauts gave thumbs-up gestures as rescuers carried them from the spacecraft to an inflatable medical tent.
Despite looking a little worse for wear as he was pulled from the vessel, Pettit was “doing well and in the range of what is expected for him following return to Earth,” NASA said in a statement.
He was then set to fly to the Kazakh city of Karaganda before boarding a NASA plane to the agency’s Johnson Space Center in Texas.
The astronauts spent their time on the ISS researching areas such as water sanitization technology, plant growth in various conditions and fire behavior in microgravity, NASA said.
The trio’s seven-month trip was just short of the nine months that NASA astronauts Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams unexpectedly spent stuck on the orbital lab after the spacecraft they were testing suffered technical issues and was deemed unfit to fly them back to Earth.
Space is one of the final areas of US-Russia cooperation amid an almost complete breakdown in relations between Moscow and Washington over the Ukraine conflict.
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Philippines devotees nailed to crosses to re-enact Christ’s crucifixion

Updated 18 April 2025
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Philippines devotees nailed to crosses to re-enact Christ’s crucifixion

  • Around 80 percent of the Philippines’ 110 million people are Roman Catholics
  • Rituals form part of Holy Week, which spans from Palm Sunday to Easter Sunday

CUTUD, Philippines: Christian devotees from the Philippines were nailed to a cross on Friday in a reenactment of Jesus Christ’s crucifixion in the predominantly Catholic nation.
Hundreds of Filipinos and foreign tourists flocked to the northern village of San Pedro Cutud in Pampanga province to witness Ruben Enaje nailed to the cross and portray Christ for the 36th time in an annual devotional display. Two other devotees joined him in re-enacting the crucifixion.
Actors dressed as Roman soldiers hammered Enaje’s palms with two-inch nails. Ropes and fabric supported their bodies as they were raised on wooden crosses.
“The first five seconds were very painful. As time goes and the blood goes down, the pain numbs and I can stay on the cross longer,” Enaje, 64, said in an interview.
Around 80 percent of the Philippines’ 110 million people identify as Roman Catholics. The rituals form part of Holy Week, which spans from Palm Sunday to Easter Sunday and is one of the most sacred and solemn periods in the Philippines’ religious calendar.
During Holy Week, some devotees flog their backs repeatedly with bamboo whips in an act of self-flagellation to seek penance and atonement. The Catholic Church has discouraged the practice, saying prayers and sincere repentance are enough to commemorate Lent.


‘Star Wars’ fans wave lightsabers as an upcoming film gets announced in Japan

Updated 18 April 2025
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‘Star Wars’ fans wave lightsabers as an upcoming film gets announced in Japan

  • Gosling and director Shawn Levy appeared on stage Friday before a lightsaber-waving crowd at Makuhari Messe center outside Tokyo
  • The event, called Star Wars Celebration, continues through Sunday

CHIBA: The Force was with many Japanese, as well as visitors from abroad, at a “Star Wars” event on Friday where Lucasfilm announced that the next installation in the franchise will hit theaters in May 2027 starring Ryan Gosling.
Appearing on stage before a lightsaber-waving crowd at Makuhari Messe center outside Tokyo, Gosling showed a photo of his childhood bedsheets, plastered with illustrations from the space epic created by George Lucas.
“I guess I was dreaming about ‘ Star Wars ‘ even before I saw the film,” Gosling said.
Shawn Levy, who will direct the movie, told the crowd that “Star Wars: Starfighter” will not be a prequel or a sequel, but a new standalone adventure with new characters set several years after “Episode Nine.” Filming starts later this year, he said.
Levy, who also directed the 2006 film “The Pink Panther” and the recent Netflix series “Stranger Things,” said little else, noting: “I can’t say much about it because I understand the rules.”
Only the title was shown on a giant screen, although that was enough for the crowd to burst into cheers.
The event, called Star Wars Celebration, which runs through Sunday, is full of “Star Wars“-themed merchandise including T-shirts, toys, books, manga comics, AC chargers, cellphone covers, autographs, posters and more.
The Lego booth featured a man wearing the ominous black mask and cloak of Darth Vader, made out of Legos. The deep-breathing villain also appeared as traditional Japanese lacquerware decorating earphones in a limited edition of 10, each selling for 990,000 yen ($7,000). Darth Vader T-shirts were more affordable at 8,000 yen ($56).
“It makes me so happy to think everyone here loves ‘Star Wars,’” said Yoshiki Takahashi, 26, who was holding a remote-controlled R2-D2 miniature robot.
“I love the directing, the sound of the gun and the lightsaber, but above all the story, with great fight scenes and, of course, human drama,” he added.
Another Japanese man, who said he goes only by Hiro, was dressed as the “Star Wars” character Mandalorian, in a detailed costume he made himself, complete with a plastic sword and armor.
Also present were “Star Wars” fans from around the world, including a robed Raul Herrera, a computer science teacher from Chile, who was there with friends.
“All of them,” said Herrera, when asked which ‘Star Wars’ films he’d seen. “The sense of commitment of the characters, I really like it.”
With offshoot stories spanning generations and literally the cosmos, “Star Wars” is one of the highest-grossing franchises of all time since its 1977 debut, starring Mark Hamill as Luke Skywalker.
It may be natural that “Star Wars” appeals to Japanese: Its story about a samurai-like hero who befriends various characters along his journey echoes the nation’s fables, as well as legendary Akira Kurosawa films.