The Cape Girardeau Democrat. (Cape Girardeau, Mo.) 1876-1909, 1896-10-31
IN JAPAN.
Changed Conditions Seem to strengthes
the Impulses of Despair.

h Impulses of Despair.
An interesting essay on the prevs
lence of suicide in Japan has been writ
ten by Mr.. Saito Kokufu, a native sta
tistican. The statistics extend over ten
years and show that suicide has been on
the increase in Japan both actually and
in proportion to the total number of
deaths. In 1885 and 1856 the number
in proportion to the population reached
its highest. Mr.. Saito observes that
during these years there was a great
rise in the price of the necessaries of
life.
In the case of japanese women the
age at which suicide is most frequent is
about 20; the corresponding period
with men is 25. Comparatively few
women commit suicide after the 25th
year, but men are not safe until they
are past 40. The women after marriage
usually take life as they find it and SUBJ
NIT with stoicism to it's conditions. The
suicides of men are due to the worries
and reverses of business and are often
the result of cool and deliberate choice
between two evils. Female suicides
are rather more than half those of males
but with a distinct tendency to increase.
From January to May are the worst
months for suicides. The number
mounts rapidly month by month from
January to May and keeps high until
July and it falls TO its lowest in Novem-
Der. The suicides of December and
January are attributed partly TO pc
cuniary troubles at the close of the
year. when all accounts are supposed to
be closed and all liabilities met. \ rise
in July is attributed to financial
troubles at the half year.
In recent years the use of the sword
by suicides is decreasing greatly; hang
ing is the method most frequently EN-
ployed, nearly three-fourths of the male
suicides and nearly half the females
having terminated their lives in this
way, but among women drowning is
more common even than hanging.
Firearms and poison are very rarely
used, probably because they are not
readily o~btainable, while a japanese OF
either sex always has a long girdle and
always has water sufficient TO cause
drowning at hand in the deep wells in
every village and adjacent to almost
every house.
The figures show that the number OF
suicides varies year by year with the
price of rice; it rises when the price OF
rice is high and falls when rice is cheap.
It is also evident that the great centers
of and industry have Il
greater proportion than country dis
tricts.
Mr.. Saito has ~endeavored to tabulate
the causes of japanese suicides and
from the figures for four years which he
gives it appears that abont half the
! total number are due to mental derange-
ment, about a quarter to general re-
verses of fortune and the difficulty OF
making 4 living" an eighth of the whole
are attributed to physical suffering and
the remainder to love, romance. shame.
bereavement. domestic quarrels, etc.
No attempt is made in the statistics
to distinguish between educated and
uneducated persons who commit sui
eide. 1t seems, however, that the view
of the educated Japanese is that he has
a right to commit suicide if he thinks
his life has been a failure or that it has
become an intolerable burden to him.
london Times.