Japan on suicide watch as schools reopen

TOKYO (AFP) — As Japan’s schools reopened yesterday after summer holidays, a day when suicides among young people spike, celebrities reached out to at-risk children and one Tokyo zoo offered refuge to nervous pupils in a bid to tackle the mental health crisis.

For some children, the thought of returning to school sends their stress levels soaring, as they battle fears ranging from schoolyard bullies to doing poorly on exams.

“Going back to school creates anxiety,” said Kuniyasu Hiraiwa, representative director of AfterSchool, a non-profit that helps parents detect early warning signs in kids.

Japan — which places huge emphasis on academic success — has the highest suicide rate among the Group of Seven (G7) industrialized nations, with more than 20,000 people taking their own lives annually.

While the overall suicide rate has been falling since it peaked in 2003, that is not the case among young adults starting their first jobs or schoolchildren.

Some 500 Japanese under 20 years of age kill themselves each year. The teen suicide rate on Sept. 1 tends to be around three times higher than any other day of the year.

This week, popular actress Shoko Nakagawa posted the message “Never die. Live” on Twitter, while public broadcaster NHK created the hashtag “On the night of August 31st” to draw attention to the problem.