Trains and Japan's suicide rate

The trains are fairly easy to take. I think I get more confused with the New York ones. Or maybe my few experiences with the New York subway system helped prepped me for these trains. Sometimes the maps/signs are only in Japanese but usually I can find an English version. I like observing the people on the trains: businessmen reading newspapers, housewives doing errands, high school students. I don’t know what they are talking about but sometimes I can guess. Some people snooze. Some people are very absorbed with texting on their cell phones (or surfing the web). One sad thing about the trains: People often commit suicide by lying on the tracks in front of an oncoming train. Japan ranks #9 in terms of countries with the highest suicide rate:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_suicide_rate

The U.S. is #45. The screens in the train tell you which lines have delays. All the delays I have seen have to do with accidents involving people. It is possible that people have accidentally fallen on the tracks or are crossing the tracks when they are not supposed to. However, some could be suicide attempts (may or may not have been successful). I saw these messages far more than I wanted to. Sometimes I averted my eyes from the screens because I kind of didn't want to know. People on the train don't act like it is anything unusual to see a train delay message (in which the delay involves a person). One of the train lines has a barrier set up. There are doors that are part of the barrier that only open to let people thru when the train has come to a full stop. But most train lines I have seen don’t have these barriers.

I did see one guy on the train that looked upset. I wasn’t sure if he was sniffling because he was upset or because he was sick. I thought about giving him one of our free Christmas CDs. I told myself I’d give it to him if he started crying. It seemed like he was wiping his eyes so then I told myself I would give it to him right before I got off the train (so that it won’t be awkward for a few minutes if he said “no”). Unfortunately, he got off the train at the stop right before my stop (I hadn’t considered that possibility). I hope that someone will tell him how he can find hope.

Another time, I saw a business man who was so drunk that he couldn’t even hold himself up. His coworker or friend was holding him up. I had heard about businessmen often going out together after work for drinks. It is something that businessmen and businesswomen are expected to do with their boss and/or coworkers. Thankfully I have not (yet) been in a crowded train late at night with a bunch of drunk businesspeople (I heard the smell could be pretty strong). I also have not been on the train (yet) at a time when there are “pushers” (pushers are people who work for the train line who push people onto the train so as to squeeze as many people as possible into the trains during rush hour).

Another note about the suicides. Sometimes people make appointments (through meeting each other on the web) to commit suicides together. e.g. jump off a building together. Or they all get in a car, drive up to the mountains and burn coal in their car with the windows closed and die together from the carbon monoxide. I guess they find community in their last moments. Part of the reason for the high suicide rate is due to enormous pressure at school / work. There’s a lot of competition and pressure to succeed. A lot of students go to “cram school” (school after school). But, more serious than that: is that they have no hope. Buddhism and Shinto-ism (their main religions) cannot offer them hope.