Golly gee willikers!

A rash of underage suicides has moved a Shanghai bookstore to ban the comic believed to be the source of inspiration. ‘The Rabbit Who Wanted to Kill Itself‘ (shouldn’t that be ‘The Rabbit Which Wanted to Kill Itself‘, since ‘itself’ implies non-personhood? Sorry…) reportedly prompted a slew of teen suicides, as well as a sales surge in psychological self-help and suicide-prevention tomes.

“The comic used to be popular among young readers,” said Zhu Bin, public relations officer at the book city.

In the story, the rabbit comes up with various ways of killing itself, including pouring sulfuric acid to its head, jumping off a building and sticking its head into a revolving door.

Zhu also said that since last Wednesday, the sales of books on teenage psychological guidance have soared, as parents are becoming more concerned about the mental health of their children.

“In the past, reference and exercise books were parents’ favorites. However, last weekend, the first weekend after the new semester started, there was a sales rush on psychology-related books,” he said. “Some even sold out.”

If you’d asked me five minutes ago which Asian country has the highest suicide rate per 10,000 people - between Japan and South Korea, I’d have said Japan…and as usual, I’d have been wrong. Nope, the winner of the Suicide Rate Sweepstakes does in fact go to South Korea. I am called to wonder what the suicide rate in North Korea is like.

Up to 56 percent of suicides were committed by the jobless, with the female suicide rate posting a 19-percent rise between 2003 and 2007, Lim said, citing police statistics.

Suicides now stand as the No. 4 cause of deaths in South Korea. South Korea’s suicide rate has been the highest in the 30-nation Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) since 2005.

An average of 25 out of every 100,000 people kill themselves in South Korea, followed by Hungary (22.6 persons), Japan (20.3 persons) and Belgium (18.4 persons).

“The increasing suicides in Korea have become a pan-national issue which the government must tackle with more strategic plans,” Lim told Yonhap News Agency.

Man, if this keeps up there won’t be enough Japanese people left to supply the West’s insatiable appetite for sushi and anime.

Japanese police evacuated 34 people from an apartment building Wednesday after a man apparently killed himself by mixing chemicals and inhaling the deadly fumes, the latest in a string of similar suicides nationwide.

Police said they were called to the scene in Kanazawa City, western Japan, when a resident found a sign on the door of an apartment warning of dangerous gases. After residents noticed a strange smell coming from the apartment, police moved them to a local community center.

The body of a man was found in the apartment, along with cleaning and agricultural chemicals that produce deadly gasses when mixed, police officer Hiroshi Sakashita said.

Lately there’s been a lot of coverage of suicides in Japan; from suicide pacts to tons of people getting sick from detergent-suicides. Well, here is some happy news: Paul Touten wants to save Japan’s victims of depression, and he will dress up like a cartoon cowboy and sing songs to do it! Go Paul!

http://mdn.mainichi.jp/culture/waiwai/news/20080528p2g00m0dm003000c.html