18-year-old boy apparently hangs himself from school gate

Poor boy. So sad.

A school official said there was no indication the boy was being bullied.

What else are they going to say? If he was 18, probably means he was going to graduate this year, and the "bullying" may have been pressure from teachers on him, pushing him to decide what he was going to do after graduation.

Many HS teachers only care about sending their students to college, and will refuse to accept to sign necessary documents for students who want to attend technical colleges or go to work. The pressure they are under is enormous, and the students have few people that can assist them or counsel them.

Probably another totally preventable and meaningless death!

 will refuse to accept to sign necessary documents for students who want to attend technical colleges or go to work

What? Sure Japanese education has tons of problems but never heard of that kind of thing. Could you tell more in detail. I went to college but many of my classmates went to work and teachers had no problem with them. Japan's university entrance rate is still 60%, after all.

And technical colleges are still colleges aren't they? I think teachers even recommends them over normal colleges.

Disclaimer: I'm Japanese male.

Yes, it is true that high schools do pressure graduates to choose a college or university although, it is not so prevalent in public high schools. On the other hand, private high schools are much different and large amounts of pressure is heaped onto students to choose a reputable university and to pass entrance exams. This is because the private high schools use these university enrolments to pad their own reputations.

However, this case could be something as simple as attention seeking. It's very unusual for a stressed out teen to hang himself on the school gate. It would seem there was a lot more to this lad's troubles than just graduation stresses.

"apparantly"?

Obviously, the boy chose the location to show the school that there could not have been any problem at school.

I am so relieved that the school also believes this hypothesis!

We can’t speculate as to the reasons as to why he killed himself. There are far too many reasons and we shouldn’t just blame the system, teachers, or society. At the end of the day, the boy didn’t seem to have someone he felt he could talk to about the things that were troubling him and he chose to take his own life.

It is very disappointing.

It is too early to choose death.

Requiescat in Pace.

What? Sure Japanese education has tons of problems but never heard of that kind of thing. Could you tell more in detail. I went to college but many of my classmates went to work and teachers had no problem with them. Japan's university entrance rate is still 60%, after all.

And technical colleges are still colleges aren't they? I think teachers even recommends them over normal colleges.

Disclaimer: I'm Japanese male.

Technical Colleges, or "senmon gakkou" in Japanese are private schools, and far too many HS's push their students into college or university, because it "looks good" for their HS and the graduation rates.

If I went into detail it would take pages of text, because I would have to go through the history of both, and the relationships between Uni and Semon Gakko's too.

Needless to say, I know from personal experience that it's true, senmon gakkou have a better history of placing people into work positions than university and college.

Yubaru

Sorry I misunderstood you. If you were talking about 専門学校 that makes sense. But I don't think "Technical College" is a appropriate word for "専門学校". Technical College is usually a word for "工業大学".

No way of knowing what led the poor kid to this, but it's safe to say that school probably didn't help. The "education system" is an abomination and quite often the equivalent of 12 years of child abuse.

This is so sad.

Suicide in Japan has been drastically increasing.

Why?

What more do you need to know?

Suicide in Japan has been drastically increasing.

Overall it's actually trending downwards. Certain demographics are definitely up though including youth.

...an 18 year old "Boy"? How is a 18 year old male considered a 'boy"?

He must have wanted to give some kind of message to his school. Otherwise why do it at the school gate? His problems were obviously school related and he wanted to make sure people knew this.

Ahhh his poor parents...he has not only destroyed his own life but theirs as well. And it must be asked if this kid, had he lived in America and had access to a weapon, would he have become a 'school shooter'? Was it the 'social vise' that is high school, the forced socialization into 'workers' that bright kids find so difficult to tolerate? Or was he so bright that he could see enough of this place at 18 to know what a monstrous place this is and had no desire to become like what he saw around him but had run out of strength to resist? Does Japan's declining birth rate suggest that, however unspoken it may be in Japanese culture, there is a subconscious recognition of our dire circumstances and precarious future which demotivates people not only from having children but of participating in the present time at all (hikikomori)? And Japan, because of the cultural homogeneity which Japanese people share, is the first to feel it to the extent that it has powerful effects upon Japan's entire society? Kids like this who are finding at such young ages that this life for them sucks beyond any imaginable future tolerance are EXACTLY the WARNING that we are ignoring by thinking this was an individual's choice and not a strong indication that we, the adults, have failed and are failing ever more to provide a world to our children in which they can find hope. How many children will have to die before we begin to take it seriously and begin to remove those voices of violence, greed, wealth and life theft, which poison our world? We, in our cowardice, in our fear of punishment by the enforcers, killed this kid with the corrupt Human Reality we constitute.

Does Japan's declining birth rate suggest that, however unspoken it may be in Japanese culture, there is a subconscious recognition of our dire circumstances and precarious future

Japan's declining birth rate does not suggest anything because the Japanese birth rate is not declining. The birth (aka fertility) rate bottomed in 2005 but has been rising since then albeit with a bit of wobble at the second decimal place.

Yes, it is true that high schools do pressure graduates to choose a college or university although, it is not so prevalent in public high schools. On the other hand, private high schools are much different and large amounts of pressure is heaped onto students to choose a reputable university and to pass entrance exams.

There is enormous variation among both public and private high schools in Japan. There is no "one size fits all generalization" that is appropriate. A small number of public high schools build their reputations on how many graduates get into elite universities. My younger son goes to one such high school. My older son went to a very different high school where almost no one went to even a near-elite university.

There are both public and private high schools in Japan that are known mostly for the jocks they produce. Some private high schools are essentially vocational training for professional baseball in Japan. Many private high schools in Japan were originally started to take up the kids who could not get into public high schools went high school education became socially but not legally compulsory in the 1970s.

Sorry I misunderstood you. If you were talking about 専門学校 that makes sense. But I don't think "Technical College" is a appropriate word for "専門学校". Technical College is usually a word for "工業大学".

The English translation is right on the mark, senmon-gakkou can be translated to Technical College, which is totally accurate, or vocational college.

And just for information, over the course of the next few years, many senmon gakkou, or at least the ones that apply and are certified, will become senmon-shoku daigakku or senmon-shoku tan-dai and get the exact same funding as universities here.

Poor kid. RIP.

As bullfighter says, some private schools are basically junior teams for pro sports like baseball. The reason I mention this is that if you are in inaka, the private school representing your prefecture at Koshien, "Nagano" or "Gunma" or somewhere, may have no local kids in it. It will be full of baseball kids from Kanto or Kansai who've gone to inaka for a higher chance of playing at Koshien. The local teams to cheer for are the public system schools, often Technical or Agricultural High Schools, who are not allowed to recruit from outside the prefecture.

I didn't read this story cause suicide is such a STUPIED thing to do ... I don't know what was so bad that caused him to kill himself but suicide does not make things better. You just cause so much pain in the loved ones you leave behind...