Hi, There has been some research done in Japanese (and a lot of press attention has been paid to this topic in the past few years). A short piece by Sean Curtin of GLOCOM: http://www.glocom.org/special_topics/social_trends/20041104_trends_s91/index... Assuming you read Japanese, check out the PDFs at the National Center of Neurology and Psychiatry, Japan at http://www.ncnp.go.jp/ikiru-hp/report/ueda16t.html Government policy concerning measures to combat the phenomenon (a research group was set up through the Prime Minister's office last year): http://www.soumu.go.jp/s-news/2006/pdf/060126_1_bt1.pdf http://www.kantei.go.jp/jp/singi/it2/others/kettei.pdf A search through Japan's national database of journals (GeNii) put out by universities and academic organizations in Japan yields a few more, also in Japanese. Hope that this helps. Leslie Tkach-Kawasaki, Ph.D. Machida, Tokyo Christopher Helland wrote
I'm wondering if anyone knows of any studies or ongoing research concerning online suicide pacts in Japan. The suicide rate in Japan is almost 20 times higher than their murder rate (one of the highest in the world)--and there appears to be "a frightening increase in the number of group suicides arranged over the Internet through chat rooms dedicated to discussing suicide."
Any help researching this topic would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks in advance,
Chris Helland
Christopher Helland, Ph.D. Assistant Professor, Sociology of Religion Department of Sociology and Social Anthropology Dalhousie University 6135 University Avenue, Rm. 1128 Halifax, Nova Scotia Canada B3H 4P9 Tel: (902) 494-6757 Fax:(902) 494-2897 http://www.chass.utoronto.ca/~chelland/index.html
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