Japanese Cyber Suicide Nearly Doubles

It's not so much suicide that's causing alarm in Japan - death by one's own hand is woven into the nation's fabric - it's who's committing it and how. Just this week, nine people in two separate events were found dead in their cars after forming Internet suicide pacts, and the trend is on the rise. With 32,000 deaths in 2004, Japan has one of the highest suicide rates in the world. Nearly a hundred percent of those were not the result of Internet suicide pacts, but those that were cyber-suicides hit record highs every year. The number of Internet pact deaths has tripled since authorities started paying attention to it in 2003. In 2005, a record 91 people (most of them in their 20's) killed themselves as a result of Web correspondence, up from 55 people in 2004. The most popular method seems to be for the group to lock themselves in a car and light charcoal grills to die by carbon monoxide poisoning. The Jogasaki in the city of Ito, forlorn souls are known to throw themselves from the jagged cliffs or the famous suspension bridge. Perhaps even more haunting is here.") Drag this to your Bookmarks. Add to document.write("Del.icio.us") Yahoo My Web