Josh Sugarman and his "Violence Policy Center" claims that the real reason we need to ban guns is not because of firearms homicides but because the presence of firearms cause suicide. Here's a little word from the gun-free utopian land of the lotus blossom on the suicide situtation over there.
=rod=
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The Advertiser-Adelaide
3 July 1999
Page 51
Suicide surge in Japan
By Joseph Coleman in Tokyo
Crushed by money trouble or devastating illnesses, Japanese are killing
themselves in record numbers, the Government said yesterday, reporting a
dramatic 35 per cent surge in suicides in 1998. A record high of nearly
33,000 people killed themselves last year, the National Policy Agency
said, with a marked increase in the number of middle-aged people taking
their lives. The country's economic troubles seemed to play a major factor
in the increase. Japan is grappling with its deepest recession in 50
years, and middle-aged workers are paying the price in salary cuts and
layoffs.
The spread of suicide also comes at a time of growing unease in
Japanese society in general. Crime, divorce and dissatisfaction with
systems such as education are all rising. The number of suicides in 1998
hit 32,863, a 34.7 per cent increase over the previous year and the
highest since the government started tracking it in 1947. It was also the
first time suicides had topped 30,000 in Japan, the agency said. Last year
also set a record for the highest suicide rate: 26.0 suicides per 100,000
population - a dramatic increase from a rate of just below 16 in the late
-1960's. "middle-aged salary men just can't cope with the current
situation," Hiroshi Kawahito, a lawyer who works on such cases, was quoted
as saying by Nihon keizai newspaper yesterday. "A social framework to
support them is urgently needed." The startling numbers were top news in
Japan, despite a deeply ingrained tradition that has long regarded suicide
as an honorable way to atone for failure and show remorse. Even before the
announcement yesterday, the spread of suicides linked to overwork or
painful corporate restructuring because of the recession had been causing
mounting concern. The Health and Welfare Ministry made a similar report
earlier this year, with similar numbers. In one case last year, three
businessmen rented out rooms at the same hotel, shared a final drink and
hanged themselves. Earlier this year a tyre company worker who felt
pressured into early retirement stabbed himself to death in the company
president's suite. The trend has bought a spate of lawsuits. In March, a
court ruled that a company employee was driven to suicide by overwork and
ordered the Government to compensate his family.
=rod=
*************************************
The Advertiser-Adelaide
3 July 1999
Page 51
Suicide surge in Japan
By Joseph Coleman in Tokyo
Crushed by money trouble or devastating illnesses, Japanese are killing
themselves in record numbers, the Government said yesterday, reporting a
dramatic 35 per cent surge in suicides in 1998. A record high of nearly
33,000 people killed themselves last year, the National Policy Agency
said, with a marked increase in the number of middle-aged people taking
their lives. The country's economic troubles seemed to play a major factor
in the increase. Japan is grappling with its deepest recession in 50
years, and middle-aged workers are paying the price in salary cuts and
layoffs.
The spread of suicide also comes at a time of growing unease in
Japanese society in general. Crime, divorce and dissatisfaction with
systems such as education are all rising. The number of suicides in 1998
hit 32,863, a 34.7 per cent increase over the previous year and the
highest since the government started tracking it in 1947. It was also the
first time suicides had topped 30,000 in Japan, the agency said. Last year
also set a record for the highest suicide rate: 26.0 suicides per 100,000
population - a dramatic increase from a rate of just below 16 in the late
-1960's. "middle-aged salary men just can't cope with the current
situation," Hiroshi Kawahito, a lawyer who works on such cases, was quoted
as saying by Nihon keizai newspaper yesterday. "A social framework to
support them is urgently needed." The startling numbers were top news in
Japan, despite a deeply ingrained tradition that has long regarded suicide
as an honorable way to atone for failure and show remorse. Even before the
announcement yesterday, the spread of suicides linked to overwork or
painful corporate restructuring because of the recession had been causing
mounting concern. The Health and Welfare Ministry made a similar report
earlier this year, with similar numbers. In one case last year, three
businessmen rented out rooms at the same hotel, shared a final drink and
hanged themselves. Earlier this year a tyre company worker who felt
pressured into early retirement stabbed himself to death in the company
president's suite. The trend has bought a spate of lawsuits. In March, a
court ruled that a company employee was driven to suicide by overwork and
ordered the Government to compensate his family.
