For the last 11 years, one Japanese person has committed suicide every 15 minutes. This suicide rate, compiled by the National Police Agency, means that more than 30,000 suicides occur every year, a third of a million people in a decade. This astonishingly high rate, by far the highest for all developed nations, is more than twice that of the United States and five times the number of traffic-accident deaths in Japan. It is a clear indication of serious social and psychological problems that deserve immediate, sympathetic and effective solutions.

The term "epidemic" has been used frequently in recent months about influenza, but suicide has remained an unabating epidemic for much longer. Though last year's numbers were down 2.6 percent from 2007, the number of "econocides," people with economic problems who kill themselves, increased dramatically. In 2008, among those who gave a motive for killing themselves, the failure-to-get-a-job motive increased by 40 percent, while job loss as a reason for killing oneself climbed 20 percent. Depression and social pressures are chronic reasons.

Men in their 50s remained the largest group committing suicide in Japan, presumably sacrificing themselves to leave insurance money for their families. This so-called inseki-jisatsu, or responsibility-driven suicide, also applies to business executives and even school principals who want to atone for failures. Long accorded a special status in Japanese culture, this romanticized view of suicide as honorable needs to be changed. Suicide may appear to right wrongs or pay off debts, but in the long run, the direct economic costs together with the intangible costs of emotional losses to family and friends are incalculably high.