June 1, 2006

MACARTHUR DIDN'T GIVE THEM THE ONE THING THEY NEEDED:

Fertility rate set another record low in '05 (REIJI YOSHIDA, 6/02/06, Japan Times)

Japan's so-called total fertility rate, an indicator used for international comparisons of birth trends within individual countries, fell for the fifth consecutive year, hitting a record low of 1.25 last year, the Health, Labor and Welfare Ministry said Thursday.

Suicides top 30,000 for eighth consecutive year (Japan Times, 6/02/06)
Suicides in Japan topped 30,000 for the eighth straight year in 2005, with the numbers increasing for those in their 40s or younger, the National Police Agency said Thursday.

The NPA said those in their 50s or older still accounted for more than half of the total, but that percentage is down from last year.

The number of students committing suicide totaled 861, up 9.8 percent, for the second largest tally since the NPA began recording suicide figures in 1978.

Posted by Orrin Judd at June 1, 2006 8:53 PM
Comments

They were going to own the U.S. about 15 years ago, weren't they? Looks like they bought Forrest Lawn.

Posted by: jdkelly at June 1, 2006 9:24 PM

"MacArthur didn't give them the one thing they needed"

Shintoism doen't count, I gather.

Posted by: ghostcat at June 1, 2006 9:28 PM

jd, we're worrying about China buying us out now. Try to stay with the program.

Posted by: erp at June 2, 2006 7:35 AM

In a Secular Humanist society, aren't those over 50 just doing their duty?

Posted by: Bruno at June 2, 2006 9:54 AM

...for the second largest tally since the NPA began recording suicide figures in 1978

I'll bet the figures for '44 and '45 were far higher than 30,000/year.

Posted by: PapayaSF at June 2, 2006 7:16 PM

PapayaSF, I'd take that bet. Suicide is a luxury of the rich. Poor people don't have the leisure to be introspective.

Posted by: Robert Mitchell Jr. at June 2, 2006 9:51 PM

I picked those years because they included many military suicides, in combat and out.

Posted by: PapayaSF at June 3, 2006 2:36 AM

Self-sacrifice is the opposite of suicide.

Posted by: oj at June 3, 2006 9:00 AM

Suicide (from Latin sui caedere, to kill oneself) is the act of willfully ending one's own life. Doing it for a cause doesn't change that.

Posted by: PapayaSF at June 3, 2006 1:29 PM

Of course giving your life for others is completely different than ending it for selfish reasons.

Posted by: oj at June 3, 2006 1:39 PM

Were the kamikaze 'selfless'? Or just desperate? Or brainwashed?

Did all those who gutted themselves die for others? I doubt it. They were shamed, or they were afraid, or they were borderline nuts, no?

Is a stereotypical suicide bomber 'selfless'?

Posted by: jim hamlen at June 3, 2006 10:38 PM

Selfless.

No, they do it for the raisins.

Posted by: oj at June 3, 2006 11:15 PM
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