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Hydrogen Sulfide Suicides In Japan

May 13th, 2008 by Neil

An ever increasing topic in the news and blogs around Japan these days is suicide by inhaling Hydrogen Sulfide made from household detergent.

It seems everywhere i turn yet another suicide is reported with Hydrogen Sulfide being the cause or method used is probably more appropriate.

While i understand there may be many people out there in dire straits and they feel the only way out is to take their own life, the problem actually affects the wider community when they use Hydrogen Sulfide as the method - hence a greater uproar in the community.

While reading the Daily Mainichi today the headline “3 Japanese found dead in car; police suspect lethal gas made from detergent” caught my eye … only to see the “Related Articles” below it and see another 9 all relating to the same thing.

Suicide In Japan

“Earlier this month a man killed himself by mixing detergent in his house on the northern island of Hokkaido, releasing toxic fumes that drove 350 neighbors from their homes”  reported the mainichi. The full article can be read here.

Suicide is a massive issue in Japan and the figures from The government said 32,155 people killed themselves in Japan in 2006, giving the country the world’s ninth highest suicide rate.

I had come across a campaign against suicide organised by the Tokyo Metropolitan Government here a couple of months ago which was specifically promoted on trains, the other most common method of suicide in Japan. Maybe they need to rejig this and target this new means to an end.

Throwing yourself in front of a train actually results in the family being billed with the costs associated with cleaning and the outage the line suffers during the downtime, maybe this has something to do with new methods being sought.

I don’t understand suicide myself but i do appreciate there are others out there in very different circumstances than me.

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8 Comments »

Comment by Chris B
2008-05-13 16:02:56

Selfish, short sighted, thoughtless……
Just a few words I associate with suicide. If they are over 18 let em’ go!! Too many in this world fighting to survive against enormous odds. I can’t give 2 sh__’s about those who want to go the other way.

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Comment by Rin
2008-05-13 16:17:56

WOW!!!
People dying a lot these days. What I read is liek a mother try to kill her son. That is wacked in every way.
Suicide seems to be always a be issue. It seems like everyday, someone suicides…

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Comment by evilwoobie
2008-05-13 17:42:10

That’s scary. Neighbors and innocent people enjoying their lives could be endangered by these suicidal people who gas themselves. Suicide is overrated, if a person was miserable as a human being, he will still be a miserable poltergeist. Same shit, different planes of existence. The only difference is they can’t make love on the other plane, or can they? I can definitely think of a better way to go…. ^_^

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Comment by DaG
2008-05-15 07:03:48

some may seek for peace, or to be again whith their love for belivers ones, not haunting !! and i personally know that when the one for you is gone… love is no more on earth (even physicaly)… so…

as for chris b : those who fight against odds have a reason to or want to think they have one, those who actually commit suicide are totaly lost here.
some just didn’t see anything worth of staying, of fighting, and the lack of compassion, understanding and love of this “live for yourself, competition is all, after me the end” world didnt help…

two very disturbing things are :
one : suicide is now like a buzz : some commit it for no visible reason : one have lost all his money : suicide, one listen his favorite singer promote it : suicide. their is indeed “clubs” (no long time members in it i suppose). Young ones don’t even wait when they could have a life before them and found what is missing to them : a reason to live.
two : people want to “forbid” suicide, even asked euthanasia, instead of asking themself WHY do someone commit it, and how they could save someone, or offer incurables a peacefull and respectable ending. Strange thing that some are ok with war and killings, and are so disturbed by a behaviour they can’t or wan’t understand that they put it in a “sickness that won’t happen to me or my Friends” box.

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Comment by Shane
2008-05-13 21:43:46

While it’s sad that some people feel there only recourse is suicide I think the real tragedy here are the innocent bystanders who have been hurt or killed. It’s almost a trendy way to go now….

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Comment by isel
2008-05-13 23:15:37

One of my favorite movies of all time is a Japanese movie titled Suicide Club. The first time I watched it I thought it was just all gore, blood and horror but it tells of so much more. It reaches out to people in an attempt to explain the mass suicidals in Japan. It kinda teaches us to see to it that we are connected and that we should not lose track of the things that really matter.

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Comment by Cruxay
2008-05-14 13:47:22

I still don’t understand the whole hydrogen sulfide suicide issue. Probably would if I were in Japan at the moment. Is it just a new way for people to kill themselves in Japan?

The pressures of working for a Japanese company, filled with Japanese co-workers, and holding Japanese morals is likely the cause of all this craziness. Here in beautiful Canada we just shoot at each other and kill innocent bystanders. I haven’t even heard of suicide in years, it is so trivial over here… we have a jumper of the subways once every 4 or 5 years maybe? =/

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Comment by Kezia
2008-05-14 15:09:03

I think suicide is very bad…My principe is whatever we are facing now, we have to struggle. Did they suicide because of economics pressure?

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