The Japan Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare released it’s annual nation-wide suicide study on Friday, January 28 (See report – Japanese only). The report gives some interesting insights into Japan’s suicide culture, which results in an astounding 30,000+ deaths per year, or a shade under 90 per day.

Monday blues
I remember a study that found Sunday evenings the most depressing time as people start thinking about work on Monday. However, Monday is the day when the deed is most often done in Japan with rates up 20% over the average.

According to the report, while the average number of suicides is around 88 per day (64.1 men and 23.9 women), the Monday blues take 108 people per day (80.7 men and 27.3 women). Saturdays are the least likely days for self-inflicted death with rates of 53.5 for men and 21.2 for women.

Men in the morning
For men, the worst time tends to be between 12 a.m. and 1 a.m. and between 5 a.m. and 7 a.m. Sounds like people just coming back after a hard night out, or just getting up (or haven’t slept) for the next day’s work, have decided enough is enough.

Women in morning and afternoon
The study shows the peaks for suicides by women are from 5 a.m. to 7 a.m. (not another day at work), between 10 a.m. and 1 p.m. and from 2 p.m. to 5 p.m. It is interesting that the rate drops off during lunchtime.

Spring-time depression
As to the time of year it seems all linked to the financial year or possibly hay-fever, with March through June being the months where rates jump considerably to between 95.5 and 103.2 suicides per day.

RELAX!!
It all seems very depressing, but let’s not get too wrapped up in things. Just chill out, have a cup of herbal tea or take a walk around the neighborhood and enjoy those things that usually get lost in the day-to-day noise of life.

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