Regarding the story "Bullet trains get rude wake-up call" in the July 5 edition, it was surely only a matter of time, after such a long record of years of virtually trouble-free operation, that eventually something should happen on the shinkansen.
However, I imagine nobody would have anticipated that it would be such a terrifying case of someone setting himself alight. Although, since the man killed himself, we can't be completely sure of his motivation, it would seem that the cause of this tragedy was the awful sense of desperation felt by a man trying to survive on a pitiful pension; an important fact which is barely touched on in Mari Yamaguchi's report, where the suicide is simply described as an "accident."
Therefore it occurs to me that, rather than spending a lot of time, energy and resources on trying to beef up security and ensure that such a rare event not happen again, it would probably be more productive to invest the money in trying to increase the totally inadequate pensions that many people, after a lifetime of hard work, are forced to try to live on.
The article finishes with the words, "Now that the accident happened, it's time to take action." Time to take action indeed; action to ensure that more impoverished pensioners in this supposedly "affluent" country are not forced to publicize their plight by taking their own lives!
We know that many old folks actually take their own lives each year, but not usually in such a spectacular fashion as in this sad case. Perhaps this latest suicide was meant to convey a message, rather than simply being an "accident," as the writer put it.
The opinions expressed in this letter to the editor are the writer's own and do not necessarily reflect the policies of The Japan Times.
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