News

Nearly 100 Japanese killed themselves every day in 2007, that is over 33,000 people in the year, a rise of 3 per cent on the year before, and the tenth year in a row that the figure has exceeded 30,000 said Japan's national police agency.
According to a report in the UK's Guardian newspaper, depression was singled out as the main reason in about 20 per cent of cases, followed by physical illness and debt. The suicide rate of the over 60s in Japan rose 9 per cent from 2006 to 2007, to a record high of 36.6 per cent of all victims, the biggest group in 2007.

Pensioners in Japan now make up one fifth of the country's population and they have been hit hard by pension and welfare system reforms intended to reduce public spending.