Japan Battles “Detergent Suicides”

NVDL: The internet is unfortunately also a resource now for new and improved methods for killing yourself. Before a 14-year-old Japanese girl killed herself by mixing laundry detergent with cleanser in Japan, policed asked for the 'suicide recipe' to be removed, but mirrors sites of it remained elsewhere. Last week Friday four more people killed themselves by inhaling fumes from a detergent mixed with other chemicals amid a wave of similar suicides that has reportedly claimed about 50 lives this month in Japan.

Japan has one of the highest suicide rates in the world. If you are gonna write yourself off, make sure you're the only one who pays (isn't that a line from a movie?). Probably you'll leave behind a trail of misery and heartache, so even if you don't directly harm someone else, you may well leave lasting consequences, emotional scars and so forth.

I guess anyone who is contewmplating killing themselves isn't really thinking about anyone else; which is the source of the problem = disconnectedness/isolation/emptiness.

Japan sees wave of suicides using detergent-produced gas

Suicide spate prompts Japan to tackle ISPs

ISPs have been asked to remove links to pages featuring instructions on making the gas

The latest suicide fad in Japan – and yes, fad is the word – is prompting such concern that authorities there have begun approaching ISPs, asking them to stop serving up information on the techniques used.

Nearly 350 people left their homes in northern Japan on Thursday in order to escape poisonous fumes released by a neighbor who killed himself by mixing detergent and other chemicals, the Associated Press reports.

According to local police in the city of Otaru, a family member called emergency services after finding a 24-year-old man collapsed at his home. He was taken to hospital but later declared dead. The police spokesman mentioned the man’s 58-year-old mother was also taken to hospital suffering from the effects of the gas.

People were evacuated from their homes in the area to the grounds of a local primary school, Reuters reports. They were allowed to return home later.

It appears that suicides by hydrogen sulphide, which can be made from household detergent, are a growing problem in Japan. Media reports suggested that the number of similar deaths reached approximately 50 in the past month. Last week, almost 90 people were sickened by fumes in southwestern Japan, when a teenage girl killed herself by mixing laundry detergent with cleanser in her home.

Just a day before the Otaru incident, police officials in Japan had asked Internet service providers to take down the recipe for the mix. However, it seems the recipes could still be accessed from several Web sites Thursday.

“They are rife on the Internet. Writing examples include ‘you can die easily and beautifully’ and ‘this is much easier than charcoal-burning suicide,’” Seiji Yoshikawa, deputy head of the Internet Hot Line, said, regarding to suicide methods.