Is there a high teenage suicide rate in japan?

Question

Are there a lot of teenagers in japan who commit suicide because of educational reasons?

Answer 1

Yes, heaps. Some parents even go to the extent of locking kids up in their room for months if they fail a exam.

I lived in Japan in 2001 for a year. For two months i lived in Tokyo, during those two months there was 16 suicides on my train line alone! Half of them were teens.

Answer 2

"Ijime" which is form a of bullying is one the main causes. It can be physical but is mostly psychological and is usually a whole class against one student and sometimes includes teachers.

There is one story of a class taking a students desk and placing it at the front of the room with flowers and a condolence card on it for his death. He wasn't dead, the sad part is 3 teachers also signed the card. 2 weeks later the student killed themself.

The main cause of Ijime is a communication breakdown of all parties, the parents, teachers and child. Don't get too caught up in the hype though, Japan is isn't rife with bullying, it's mostly in the larger cities that it is common.

Answer 3

Well, actually. I don't mean to be a downer or anything, but I've lived in Japan for 9 years before coming to the United States. What I remember from what my father told me (We lived in Neyagawa at the time) is that suicide is higher in the teen years mainly because of pressure from families and examination "hell" week. Of course, this is what my father has told me. I don't exactly know this to be true.

Answer 4

Yes, its a sad problem. Suicide is the only way of escape they think they have. Emotional, and physical bullying is a big problem in Japanese schools. Its not so much the older teens - they have made it through, the sadest part is all the 13 and 14 year olds getting bullied and going home and hanging themselves. Business men that loose their jobs do it to escape their shame. you should checkout mainichi.com the Japanese newspaper, they have it in English too.
Just a short while back on the exam results day, everyone was out celebrating at restaurants and stuff, but on the way home the train was delayed because someone jumped into it. I was so devastated and just wished that I could have helped in some way. I didn't see or even know this kid, but he must have gotten bad marks and so jumped. There is so much pressure on these poor kids, not a lot of help from parents or teachers, and no counseling. And a lot of Japanese students dont have many friends, because they are too busy studying.

Answer 5

Yes.

The total number of Japanese suicides is roughly equal to that of the entire United States, a country that has more than twice Japan's population.

Expressed in the international measurement for suicide, 27 out of every 100,000 Japanese people now take their own lives, giving Japan one of the highest rates among industrially advanced countries.

You may find the following useful:

http://www.glocom.org/special_topics/social_trends/20040902_trends_s82/index.html

http://www.atimes.com/atimes/Japan/FG28Dh01.html

Answer 6

Yes, there was a big suicide problem with teenagers before, but the problem now is not only suicide, but murder. For some reason, teens have inherited a weak mental capacity and now, instead of wanting to kill themselves, they look for people weaker than them and commit murder. This has happened several times with teens killing underclassmen, elementary school kids, and senior citizens. They have become cold and calculating, and that is not a positive reference to their math skills. But the source is in the home, in my opinion. They don't get the love they need at home so they turn else where and when they get bullied, to make themselves feel better, they turn to violence they absorbed in the video games. It IS a terrible problem that has no end in sight.

Answer 7

Yeah, I heard the education in that country is hard and there's barely any off periods.

Answer 8

yes, the teenagers throw theselves onto the tracks of an incoming shinkansen (bullet train) or from high rise buildings

Answer 9

ya teens go to school, and after they go to another "school" called juku to study some more, they think if you dont get into a good college, you're screwed, and the exams are wicked important to them

Answer 10

Yes, they teenager is always falling from the building in my neighborhood and jumping on the train track.

It's very sad and many time make me late for my work. It is getting tired of so many dead teenager.