Cheers from Madrid Spain!

Nicolas and Nora
http://whatsupinmadrid.blogs-de-voyage.fr/

Sometimes it annoys me when people can’t wait their turn to get off the train. Their pushing and shoving to get off first just makes the process take longer.

One time, the train was so packed that my arm was stuck behind one person, and my foot was trapped behind another. The kooks on the train were in their usual panic to get off first, and I got shoved face-forward to the ground.

As my arms were stuck, there was no way to break my fall, and I thought I was gonna land flat on my face! Luckily, I managed to wiggle my leg free just in time to save myself.

One of the fools behind me kept pushing really violently, so I made sure to elbow him as hard as I could right in his rib-cage. He backed off after that.

I swear, it’s like a herd of wild animals stampeding off the train, and you’ve gotta be careful you don’t get trampled!

Your opinions are very useful.If neighboring people are interested in the others’ abnormal behavior, the suicide might be decreased, as Noriko said.

I think if you feel symptoms of depression , such as ,loss of confidence, sleeplessness,loss of a appetite , unexplained headaches, digestion problems, go and talk to a doctor. There is nothing wrong or embarrassing about feeling distressed. The next step might be to realize that it is not your value as a human being that is at stake here, but that you are one of the many victims of the present state of the economy.

It’s very difficult to pinpoint the reasons behind these acts of despair, in most cases, layoffs, unemployment , professional insecurity seems to be the main factors. There are a lot of people who were not able to pay back the loan borrowed from banks to build their houses especially in the Japanese bubble term
and couldn’t pay back their consumer credit.

As you know, the number of people who committed suicide last year reached more than 32,000.That is more than three times the number of people who died in traffic accidents during the same period. Around 90 people committed suicide every day in Japan.This is a very serious problem as well as declining birthrate.

Moreover, the almost perfect symmetry between the graphs of unemployment and suicides in Japan for these 10 years indicates that there is a strong correlation between the tow.

Kazu, it’s good to hear from you! But I’m sorry that you had to see such a traumatizing thing up close and personal. I agree with you about suicide. I can’t really say if it’s right or wrong, and suppose it depends on the situation.

For example, if someone has terminal cancer, and will die an extremely painful death in the next few months, do they have a right to decide how they should die? This is a big issue now in America, where some places want to allow physician assisted suicide in cases like this.

I also agree that people who commit suicide should consider the impact it will have on other people who witness it. The thing I saw in Kawasaki happened in the middle of the afternoon, and there were a lot of small children there.

I’ve also heard stories about the Chuo line being the most famous for suicide. Another reason I heard for people jumping in front of the Chuo is that the orange color of the train attracts them to it.

Noriko, I also think incident is a better word to describe what these train suicides, but agree that it’s probably easier for family members if they call it an accident. It must be really hard for them to cope with something so sad.

I feel a bit uncomfortable when I see the sign of “accident resulting in injury or death” at the station. It’s usually the case of comitting suicide as you said. Is it an accident? I don’t think so. For the person who comites suicide, and the person’s family, it’s totally an incident. I know a couple of people who lost their family by suicide, and when they mention the case, they use the word of “accident”. I’m not really sure but the word “accident” sounds much milder for them to say.

You said it’s hard to imagine to kill themselves in front of a lot of strangers. I can imagine there’re a lot of ill mannered strangers. It’s so terrible to hear that some of them try to take photos of it. How heartless they are! But even though, I try to understand the victims feeling. They might anticipate some miracle happened among a lot of people. If someone had adressed to the person accidentaly, he or she might have changed the mind and stop comitting suicide…Or, they could think if they are killed by train, their family might try to believe that the victims died by really “accident”.
Anyway, they don’t care about the strangers’ trouble. I guess they just think of themselves or their close people.

I think Japanese are quite lenient for the people who comit suicide. But nunbers and reasons are so terrible recently. So sad.

Anyway,this is a true story. When I was a university student, I saw the scene that the suicide was just jumped in.It was so terrible!! I could not eat food for three days. I could not forget that scene. Once a year, I saw a dream of that. Oh, it still makes me scared.

And JR Chuou Line is very famous because there are a lot of people who commit suicide. Why is the Chuo Line full of suicide?One of my friends said that reason, that’s cause was Chuo Line’s sirens or hooters it sound when the door open or close. The sound makes people calling for suicide. I don’t know it is true or not.
But I’m sure this is one of the reason of that.

Actually, I don’t know suicide is right or wrong or not, but as you said, I believe that it is wrong to kill oneself in public. It must not be allowed by all means. Suicide by jumping will involve the passers, suicide by fire will cause a fire, and suicide by gas will cause an explosion. The suicide by throwing in front of a train is the same because it will involve unrelated people.Think of the consequences of your act, before you throw in frontof a train, or jump from the roof.I have same idea of yours. And I wish that the number of suicide will be decrease not only Chuo Line but the whole world.