SUICIDES IN TOKIO

Manawatu Times, Volume 62, Issue 37, 13 February 1937, Page 17 (Supplement)

SUICIDES IN TOKIO

Ihe Despair of Y outh

Men are more apt than women to commit suicide. Intolerable pain aud unfortunate lovo affairs are the most powerful causes which impel Japanese to take their own lives. Poison is the preferred means of suicide, with leaping into volcano craters and drowning ranking as second and third iu this conection. Suicides are most common in May and least frequent in October. These are among tho outstanding conclusions suggested by an investigation and classification of the 18,633 cases of suicide which occurred in Tokio between 1931 and 1935. 3299 suicides were attributed to acute physical pain; 1651 to disappointed love, over five hundred of these being double suicides; 1325 to family 3is-

putes; 1085 to melancholia; 923 to material hardships and'766 to unemployment. The others were not classified, Young people eeem to be most prone to suicide, as almost two-thirds of the cases investigated fell between tbe ages of sixteen and thirty. Climatic conditions are lound to influence the suicide rate, as more people take their lives when the humidity is excessive. Two of the most popular places for committing suicide are the crater of Mount Mihara, on the island of o«hima, and the picturesque Kegon Falls, above Nikko. The suicides on Mount Mihara have become so numerous that steamship companies require passengers for the island to purchase return tickets.