Hundreds flee homes in Otaru after man kills himself by inhaling deadly gas

You know sooner or later someone is going to do this in the subway, and thats the scary part. For what ever reason people kill them selves its a shame they dont consider the risks to those who want to live.

DXXJP: You know, that is a scary thought, how easily it would be for someone to do this on a large-scale in the Tokyo Metro, and not just for suicide.

We do not need Al Qaeda for threatening us. These people are doing a fine job of spreading a possible form of terrorism. The sad thing is that the ingredients they are using you can get at a normal supermarket, home center or convenient store. In a twisted sort of way, they are terrorists because they are threatening other peoples lives. It is truly unfortunate that the government and people are not doing more to help and understand these people. Until Japan has more physciatrists and professionals in mental health care, and stop treating these people like outcasts and to be frowned upon, then Japan will always have this sort of problem. With these professionals, it might help decrease the incidences of these things happening. Until then, people who think Japan is a pure, normal, stable society without any faults are just fooling themselves because that could be the root of this societys problem.

We do not need Al Qaeda for threatening us. These people are doing a fine job of spreading a possible form of terrorism. The sad thing is that the ingredients they are using you can get at a normal supermarket, home center or convenient store. In a twisted sort of way, they are terrorists because they are threatening other peoples lives. It is truly unfortunate that the government and people are not doing more to help and understand these people. Until Japan has more physciatrists and professionals in mental health care, and stop treating these people like outcasts and to be frowned upon, then Japan will always have this sort of problem. With these professionals, it might help decrease the incidences of these things happening. Until then, people who think Japan is a pure, normal, stable society without any faults are just fooling themselves because that could be the root of this societys problem.

I to fear it could happen somewhere like the tokyo subway.

This is so sad. Unbelievable how this type suicide has taken flight. I wonder the reasons for people killing themselves; depression, loneliness, a feeling of "no way out"???? They are so young too. In a time where Japan needs it youths.

Get real, people. They are talking about H2S. Sure, you can kill yourselves with that, but the sulphur stink will alert any normal (non-suicidal) person to notice and go away. Unless is a hot-spring resort, in which case you endure the smell because it is natural, but not for long. We are not talking about Sarin here, can we please cut down on the hype.

Didn't one of JT's news lifestyle sections run an article about a week ago about this new trend in suicide methods and how it is done ?

0.0047 ppm is the recognition threshold, the concentration at which 50% of humans can detect the characteristic odor of hydrogen sulfide, normally described as resembling "a rotten egg". 10-20 ppm is the borderline concentration for eye irritation. 50-100 ppm leads to eye damage. At 150-250 ppm the olfactory nerve is paralyzed after a few inhalations, and the sense of smell disappears, often together with awareness of danger, 320-530 ppm leads to pulmonary edema with the possibility of death. 530-1000 ppm causes strong stimulation of the central nervous system and rapid breathing, leading to loss of breathing; 800 ppm is the lethal concentration for 50% of humans for 5 minutes exposure(LC50). Concentrations over 1000 ppm cause immediate collapse with loss of breathing, even after inhalation of a single breath.

Suicide, if you are going to do it, then at least chose a "better" way to do it. H2S is nasty stuff and those killing themselves are gunning for the the 1000ppm, one breath and your gone, easy way way for the chicken suicider to take themselves out. Unfortuneately they also have the very real possibility of taking out plenty of innocent bystanders. get a rope, a razorblade, jump into a lava river.....there are few things worse than the the 'selfish' suicider: the train jumpers, the hydrogen sulphides et al.

I knew a woman, many years ago who topped herself back in my home country by eating weetbix laced with cyanide, she didnt leave a suicide note or warning so her neighbour attempted CPR without knowing she had committed suicide by cyanide and got rather ill from residue cyanide in her mouth.

They are talking about H2S. Sure, you can kill yourselves with that, but the sulphur stink will alert any normal (non-suicidal) person to notice and go away

At 150-250 ppm the olfactory nerve is paralyzed after a few inhalations, and the sense of smell disappears, often together with awareness of danger

If you suddenly happen upon such a suicide. there is a small possibility you could not notice. Perhaps you force you way into sealed room and get immediately hit with a strong whiff of it, perhaps you have a shocking cold and cant smell anything, or have damaged olfactory system in the first place. The rotten eggs warning is not a 100% guarantee. A four year old boy might be curious to see what stinks so bad and go check it out.....

this guy is stupid it's like people who use gaz,train or subway to killthemself. the piss off everybody. if you want kill yourself ok but do it alone. those guy are too selfish. not rip. japan don't need guy like that.

Detergent suicides aren't very clean.

It's strange how trends change over the years. This suicide by gas from kitchen chemicals is an interesting fad. Maybe it's time to reintroduce the Coca-Cola yo-yo or even ding-bats. It might give these 'ding-bats' something else to do. It's ridiculous!

Mental health professionals in Japan have long known that the prime causes for the unnecessarily high suicide rate in Japan are unemployment, the effects of bankruptcies, and the increasing levels of stress on businessmen and other salaried workers who have suffered enormous hardship in Japan since the bursting of the stock market bubble here that peaked around 1997. Until that year Japan had an annual suicide of rate figures between 22,000 and 24,000 each year. Following the bursting of the stock market and the long term economic downturn that has followed here since the suicide rate in 1998 increased by around 35% and since 1998 the number of people killing themselves each year in Japan has consistently remained well over 30,000 each and every year to the present day.

The current worldwide recession is of course impacting Japan too, so unless very proactive and well funded local and nation wide suicide prevention programs and initiatives are immediately it is very difficult to foresee the governments previously stated intention to reduce the suicide rate to around 23,000 by the year 2016 being achievable. On the contrary the numbers, and the human suffering and the depression and misery that the people who become part of these numbers, have to endure may well stay at the current levels that have persistently been the case here for the last ten years. It could even get worse unless even more is done to prevent this terrible loss of life.

The current numbers licensed psychiatrists (around 13,000), Japan Society of Certified Clinical Psychologists clinical psychologists (16,732 as of 2007), and Psychiatric Social Workers (39,108 as of 2009) must indeed be increased. In order for professional mental health counseling and psychotherapy services to be covered for depression and other mental illnesses by public health insurance it would seem advisable that positive action is taken to resume and complete the negotiations on how to achieve national licensing for clinical psychologists in Japan through the Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare and not just the Ministry of Education as is the current situation. These discussions were ongoing between all concerned mental health professional authorities that in the ongoing select committee and ministerial levels that were ongoing during the Koizumi administration. With the current economic recession adding even more hardship and stress in the lives its citizens, now would seem to be a prime opportunity for the responsible Japanese to take a pro-active approach to finally providing government approval for national licensing for clinical psychologists who provide mental health care counseling and psychotherapy services to the people of Japan.

Also Dduring these last ten years of these relentlessly high annual suicide rate numbers the English media seems in the main to have done little more than have someone goes through the files and do a story on the so-called suicide forest or internet suicide clubs and copycat suicides (whether cheap heating fuel like charcoal briquettes or even cheaper household cleaning chemicals) without focusing on the bigger picture and need for effective action and solutions. Economic hardship, bankruptcies and unemployment have been the main cause of suicide in Japan over the last 10 years, as the well detailed reports behind the suicide rate numbers that have been issued every year until now by the National Police Agency in Japan show only to clearly if any journalist is prepared to learn Japanese or get a bilingual researcher to do the research to get to the real heart of the tragic story of the long term and unnecessarily high suicide rate problem in Japan.

I would also like to suggest that as many Japanese people have very high reading skills in English that any articles (or works of fiction which I appreciate this is) dealing with suicide in Japan could usefully provide contact details for hotlines and support services for people who are depressed and feeling suicidal.