Japanese are killing themselves at an alarming rate. Last year more than 34,000 people-up 7.1 percent from the previous year-committed suicide.

A comparison with another advanced country-the United States-is illustrative. Japan has a population of about 127 million people. The United States easily doubles that, approaching 300 million. Yet, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 31,655 Americans killed themselves in 2002.

Although some believe Japan's recent economic recovery and a decline in the unemployment rate should have reduced suicides, it hasn't. That's because other factors, including overwork, prolonged unemployment and mounting personal debts, are believed to lie behind the tragedy.

``We've received an increase in calls from people in their 30s since last year,'' says Yukiko Nishihara of Befrienders International Tokyo (see related story on this page). The nonprofit organization operates a telephone helpline to aid those contemplating suicide.

``They sound like people in their 50s. I was surprised to learn they were much younger,'' Nishihara says. ``Their voices are lifeless. There are many people who are exhausted from overwork.''

Nishihara, who has nearly 30 years experience at the organization, says that while calls from people with health problems or those without jobs continue unabated, there has been a spike in the number of calls from mid-career office workers and temporary workers.

Typical comments are: ``Three of us are doing a job that used to be done by 10 people. I want an everlasting rest,'' or ``We have to do all the unfinished work after temporary workers leave for the day. I think I have reached my limit,'' or ``I was ordered to leave the workplace where I had been sent by a job placement agency. I'm scared to go to the next one.''

Statistics bear out this trend. Last year suicides by employed workers rose 13.4 percent from the year before, according to the National Police Agency. In human terms, that is 1,004 more preventable deaths. By age, suicides committed by people in their 30s increased by as much as 17 percent.

Fumio Otake, a professor at Osaka University, who is an expert in labor economics, says that overwork has caused many employees to suffer depression. ``Companies fired many workers during the recession. And so, when the economy picked up, those still employed had to work much harder,'' says Otake. ``This situation is believed to have caused many mid-career workers to suffer depression and led some to take their lives.''

Otake's assumption of much busier workers is backed by the latest employment survey, which is conducted every five years by the Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications. It states that while 4.09 million employees worked 60 hours a week or more in 1992, the comparative figure was 5.48 million in 2002.

On the other hand, the number of part-time workers is also increasing, indicating an ongoing bipolarization of working hours.

The number of nonregular workers, including part-timers, contract workers and temporary workers sent by job placement agencies, was 14.85 million last year, accounting for more than 30 percent of all employees.

Lack of stability in the workplace goes hand in hand with the suicide rate.

``An unstable employment situation gives you and those around you various kinds of stress. It also hurts the workplace environment. I think that contributes to the rise in suicides,'' says a 41-year old woman whose brother killed himself, apparently due to overwork.

She herself has worked as a temporary employee, a situation that also puts great strain on individuals. Many are poorly paid, their jobs are insecure and they receive few if any benefits afforded regular employees-who, in turn, often end up overworked, doing all the chores left behind by the part-timers. Under such circumstances, it is not surprising many view their futures in a dim light.

Every year since 2002, survivors have filed more than 100 applications for worker's compensation after a relative committed suicide because of overwork.

According to NPA statistics, 610 people who lost their jobs last year took their own lives. The figure is down 10.7 percent from a year earlier. However, suicides by those chronically unemployed rose 7.9 percent.

Indeed, the loss of a job is not a major cause of suicide. It's what comes after that results in disaster. Suicides motivated by ``life's difficulties'' rose 13.1 percent to 1,321. This category encompasses those who lose their jobs and slowly slide into poverty.

Kensaku Kishida, assistant professor of Okayama University, who studies the relationship between unemployment and suicide, says that the length of time a person is out of work is related to suicide.

``It is assumed that a correlation exists between the length of unemployment and suicide,'' Kishida says. ``You fall into a vicious cycle in which a prolonged period of unemployment hurts your economic and mental state. That poor mental state in turn prolongs the period of unemployment.''

While the number of unemployed workers and workers unemployed for less than two years has decreased, there are still many who have been jobless for two years or more, averaging about 600,000 last year.

``Technological advancement has made it harder for those who do not meet certain standards to get a job, as they are screened out immediately by computer analysis no matter how many times they try,'' says Osaka University professor Otake. ``This is also one reason for prolonged joblessness.''

Yoshihiro Kaneko is the director of the Department of Theoretical Social Security Research at the National Institute of Population and Social Security Research. He asserts the biggest reason for the rise in suicides is personal debt.

Kaneko's analysis of government ministries' population statistics, surveys of people's basic lives, workforce surveys and household accounting surveys shows that the stress associated with accumulating debt often leads to suicide.

A 70-year-old man in Kanagawa Prefecture, who took his life in August last year, was about 20 million yen in debt. He also had health problems. And when loan sharks forcefully demanded payment, he killed himself. His death came just before he was scheduled to attend a personal bankruptcy hearing.

He had borrowed money not only from banks and the National Life Finance Corp., a government institution, but also consumer-finance companies and loan sharks. His suicide note said he felt he could no longer go on living thinking about loan sharks chasing after him.

According to the NPA, personal debt saw the highest increase among reasons for suicides last year. The figure stood at 5,043 cases, up 900 or 21.7 percent from the previous year.

The Health, Labor and Welfare Ministry's white paper this year says that the suicide rate basically corresponds with business conditions and that a correlation is especially apparent between suicides and the total number of jobless individuals. However, last year seemed to be an exception. The nation's economy grew by 2.4 percent in 2003, an obvious improvement on the negative growth of the previous year.

Although 3.5 million people remained out of work in 2003, the number was down 90,000 from a year earlier. The unemployment rate also fell by 0.1 percentage point. Yet, as mentioned, more people killed themselves than ever before.

Toshiaki Tachibanaki, from Kyoto University, says that a lot of people are borrowing due to life's difficulties, and ``an increasing disparity between the haves and have-nots'' could be one factor behind the ever-increasing suicides.

There are a number of organizations that help people experiencing emotional problems. Inochi no Denwa, a suicide helpline run by volunteers, is available in about 40 prefectures. In Tokyo, phones are continuously manned at 03-3264-4343. Another organization, Befrienders International, accepts calls between 8 p.m. and 6 a.m. in Tokyo at 03-5286-9090 and around the clock in Osaka at 06-6251-4343.

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