For the past decade, Japan has faced a suicide epidemic. The reasons why Japanese people commit suicide are numerous, and the Japanese government is struggling to slow down this widespread trend, despite having only limited success. The suicide rate in Japan is one of the highest among industrialized countries, currently standing at 51 per 100,000 people per year (WHO). With an average of one suicide every fifteen minutes in Japan, reducing the suicide epidemic requires comprehensive social change. In the late 1990s, the Japanese economy entered a recession and the country's suicide rate rose from 24,000 to over 30,000 per year. and has remained stubbornly at this rate since 1998 with no indication of a decline in statistics. The executive director of Japan's largest suicide hotline, Yukio Saito, comments on this year's downward economic spiral: "We are very worried that the suicide rate may rise again this year and reach a new high." The 7,000 volunteers at the Inochi No Denwa Telephone Lifeline handle more than 700,000 calls a year and struggle to keep up with the sheer volume. According to Saito, the lifeline is understaffed and underfunded. The reasons why suicide rates are so high in Japan range from economics to ease of obtaining information to religious beliefs. Japanese people are under great pressure to achieve, both academically and economically. Japanese society rarely allows people to recover from the perceived shame of bankruptcy or failure. There is also a high level of competition in Japanese society since childhood. The Internet has contributed enormously to the suicide rate by publishing instructions on how to take your own life by mixing detergent with something else... in the middle of paper... for financial ruin or humiliation. It must stop being seen as the acceptable or responsible thing to do. Japan has an uphill battle to face, but if they can overcome their long tradition of suicide that dates back to samurai times, they can start to get into the frame of mind of “this too shall pass” and start wondering, “What? " can I do to change my situation?" Works Cited Feiler, Bruce. Learning to Bow: In the Heart of Japan. New York: HarperCollins, 2004 Ryall, Julian. Suicide Lines Struggling to Cope in Japan. 8 January 2009. Telegraph UK. February 26, 2009.4169043/ Suicide-lines-struggling-to-cope-in-Japan.html>WHO: Suicide rates May 2003. World Health Organization February 26, 2009.