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This statistical drop is the largest in five years, although there is a fear that the new coronavirus pandemic is increasing stress levels and that several emotional helplines are not working at full capacity as public life slows down.
Fewer suicides are believed to be due to people spending more time at home with loved ones. Also, far fewer people go to work, and the start of the school year is delayed.
In April this year, 1,455 people left Japan, 359 fewer than in the same month the year before.
It is true that suicides in Japan, which made a decisive commitment to combat this sad epidemic two decades ago, have been on the decline since 2003. Then, in 12 months, 34,000 committed suicide. people.
Last year, just over 20,000 such incidents were recorded, but with the outbreak of the coronavirus, fear has been raised that a new wave of suicides is waiting. That did not happen.
The peak of confirmed infections in Japan was reached in mid-April, when 500 new infections were reported daily. The government declared a state of emergency on April 16.
Although the restrictions were more lenient than in other states, the government strongly recommended that people work from home if possible. And this, among other things, hurt emotional support organizations: phone lines were closed or open only a few hours a day.
Scanpix Photo / The number of coronavirus cases in Japan has increased significantly
Also, although suicides have decreased in recent years, their number has just increased among children. Japanese experts say there has been a significant increase in bullying in the country’s schools.
The beginning of the school year is a particularly difficult time. In Japan, it is April. However, due to the pandemic, the start of schools was delayed, which experts say probably helped save some lives, at least temporarily.
“The school puts a lot of pressure on some young people. But there is not so much pressure in April, said Yukio Saito, former head of Inochi-no-Denwa, a federation of helplines. “At home, they feel safe with their family.”
If the economic depression continues, suicides will undoubtedly increase, and abruptly.
According to Saito, Japanese adults, in turn, generally do not think about suicide during major crises or natural disasters; This was also the case in 2011, when the country was shaken by an earthquake, flooded by a tsunami and crashed at the Fukushima nuclear power plant.
Reuters / Scanpix / Smoke photo of the third reactor at the Fukushima-1 nuclear power plant.
It is also notable that far fewer people travel to the workplace, where they generally sit for very long periods of time. According to experts, this also contributed to a lower number of suicides.
It is true that Japan’s economy, like that of other western countries, still faces great shocks. According to Y. Saito, if the economic depression lasts, the suicides will certainly increase, and drastically.
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