WHEN ATOMS COLLIDE (via Fred Jacobsen):

Internet-Arranged Suicides Surge in Japan (HIROKO TABUCHI, 3/10/06, Associated Press)

Six young Japanese were found dead from asphyxiation in a car Friday, charcoal stoves still smoking beside them — apparently the latest victims of a surge in suicide pacts arranged over the Internet. [...]

"Depressed, young people and the Internet — it's a very dangerous mix," said Mafumi Usui, a psychology professor at Niigata Seiryo University.

"Many young people try to kill themselves but can't carry through. But when a group of strangers meet on an Internet suicide site, and someone suggests a specific way to die ... that's the dangerous dynamic behind the recent group suicides," Usui said.

Often designed with an ominous, pitch-black background, the Internet sites host chat rooms spilling over with death wishes and exchanges of ideas on how best to take your own life.

Most sites appear to be frequented largely by young people, some still in their early teens, who are troubled by bullying, romantic breakups or abusive relatives or a disconnect with family.

"When Japan was poor, families did more things together out of necessity, like sharing a bath or eating together, and the community was much more important, especially in rural communities," Usui said.

"But now it's increasingly all about the individual. This leaves people more isolated and likely to contemplate suicide," he said.

Yet folks still think of the Japanese as having extended families piled on top of each other....

Posted by Orrin Judd at March 10, 2006 9:34 PM