Two 17-year-old girls found dead outside school building

Steven Fennel May 12  07:15 pm JST

Some of these poor kids have more pressure on them than should be put on teenagers anywhere. School from 8:30am-4:30, then they have some club activity, followed but juku until 10pm then home for dinner and another 3 hours of homework. Then on weekends another half day of useless "club" activities.

the effect on their mental health must be staggering...

kids need time to be kids, Japan

I agree with the last sentence, but not sure about your angst with bukatsu...

Bullying is just as likely a cause as all the other school-related pressures mentioned in the comments.

This country really need rest and enlightening of what is really the purpose of Life.

Japan should have an awareness event like the walk "Darkness into Light" https://dil.pieta.ie/thank-you

Sad waste of potential, with so much before them :(

Many potential reasons suggested by posters above but I do not claim to know the cause or causes leading to this particular tragedy. Each one is usually unique, at least in the minds of those involved.

decrease* made a typo there.

@Disillusioned

Japan is very old and very homogeneous. And as such, change albeit maybe welcomed by most and especially younger generations, come slow and when it does come is sometimes hard to keep up with.

Japan, maybe even more so than South Korea and China, put lots of pressure on their students, and to the students themselves, this is normal.

Bullying and pressure is dealt with differently due to back in the day Pride and Shame were both big things, but shame one you never wanted to put on others, on your behalf.

Just fixing the school system and the work environment could boost child birth and increase suicides by a whole lot. Overwork is a huge factor in both places, same with bullying.

Japan has potential but its reluctance to fast change and openness are its biggest hinders imo.

Japan loves to export, but only import what it can not produce itself.

Japanese people love moving abroad, but would prefer if less moved to their country. (This is changing rapidly, but Politicians are still very weary on whom they let in).

One thing's for sure, the world would be a much duller place without Japan. Anime wouldn't be what it is, Nintendo, Sony, what's a Playstation. Honda? Kimono what?. Its a beautiful country with lots of potential indeed, but also many challenges.

Jpn8

I don't think the students were left alone or unsupervised, as you said. It was 9 p.m. on a Friday night. It's more probable they went back to the school at night and no one saw them enter. I don't know how they got in because you'd think the buildings would be locked. Maybe because the baseball team was still on the grounds, some school buildings were unlocked.

Too many suicides still.

They were probably sick of it all. School life, home life, student conformity. No room for individualism here. Heck, sometimes gotta let teens be teens.

Not just school staff but parents should be questioned. Don't parents recognise signs of stress in kids in Japan, or is it "not done" to talk about it to them? A sad indictment of social attitudes.

Two more examples of one of Japan's biggest problems. The stress of being forced to conform to Japanese ideals of how people are supposed to be and act. Why were two students left alone on the 7th floor of the school? Does the school not have staff to supervise children on school grounds?

Some of these poor kids have more pressure on them than should be put on teenagers anywhere. School from 8:30am-4:30, then they have some club activity, followed but juku until 10pm then home for dinner and another 3 hours of homework. Then on weekends another half day of useless "club" activities.

the effect on their mental health must be staggering...

kids need time to be kids, Japan

The principal, school officials, homeroom teacher; each will be questioned, each in ventriloquist dummy fashion will mouth the same rehearsed lines. None will admit to having foreknowledge of the girls posing a suicide risk or to anything at all which might cast doubt on the official narrative that the deaths were totally unexpected. This, despite it being a carbon copy suicide of others that no sooner happened were then immediately flushed down the memory hole awaiting the next lot. What a waste of young lives and what a sad indictment of the ossified thinking which is ultimately responsible. A cynical, ends justifies the means belief that there is some utility in the sacrifice of human beings into the educational maw, a calculation that the weak are expendable, collateral damage.

How many teenage suicides as that in the last 24 hours? 4? 5? It's difficult to comprehend that, in a country with such a low crime rate, it has such a high youth suicide rate. It just doesn't make sense!

Time for japan to change. No more NPP and no more corruption and no more old school leaders and no more overwork. What a waste...17??? Japan has lots of potential.