Japan has seen more than 30,000 people kill themselves annually for eight consecutive years since 1998. Last year, 32,552 people took their own lives, a total that breaks down to 89.18 suicides per day and 3.71 suicides every hour. Certainly these are grim figures.

To help rectify the situation, the Diet on Thursday passed a law requiring the central and local governments and enterprises to adopt measures to prevent suicide. Another pillar of the law is a call for cooperation between the public and private sectors with regard to the care of bereaved family members of suicide victims and of those who have attempted suicide. The law, which lays down basic approaches toward suicide prevention, will give legal grounding to various suicide-prevention measures already in place and is expected to help make those measures work more effectively than before.

The drafting of the bill is credited to a nonpartisan effort among lawmakers. The Lower House unanimously passed the law, which the Upper House had already endorsed. One influencing factor was a signature drive led by nongovernment organization (NGO) Life Link, established in October 2004. The Tokyo-based group began its campaign in April with the goal of collecting 30,000 signatures, a number roughly corresponding to the annual number of suicides in Japan. By early June, it had collected some 101,000 signatures, reflecting a large number of people who have grieved over the suicide of family members as well as those who fear being cornered into choosing suicide themselves under some circumstances.