Japan's Suicide Rate Remains High
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By CARL FREIRE
The Associated Press
Friday, November 9, 2007; 3:48 AM

TOKYO -- Japan's employers should provide mental health services to
workers suffering from depression and other illnesses, the government
said Friday after reporting that more than 30,000 people killed
themselves last year.

In its first annual report on suicide and suicide prevention measures,
the Cabinet Office said 32,155 people killed themselves in 2006, the 9th
straight year the figure has exceeded 30,000.

The total number of suicides represents a drop of 397 from the previous
year, the government said. Still, Japan's suicide rate ranks 9th highest
in the world, the government added, citing World Health Organization
data. Lithuania had the highest rate, followed by Belarus and Russia,
while the U.S. ranked 43.

Health problems were believed to factor in almost 50 percent of the
Japan's suicides in 2006, followed by money problems and household
difficulties, the report said. Forty-eight percent of those who killed
themselves were unemployed, it said.

Suicides first passed the 30,000 mark in 1998 during an economic slump
that left many bankrupt, jobless and desperate.

"This is a problem that needs to be dealt with comprehensively by
society," government spokesman Nobutaka Machimura said at a news conference.

The central government and local authorities should work together to
implement a law approved in June that calls on employers to offer mental
health services to employees, Machimura said.

Other measures implemented by the government in June aim to tackle
unemployment and filter Web sites that promote suicide. The government's
goal is to cut the suicide rate by 20 percent in 10 years.