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Input: Makoto Ishikawa believes his life was saved by a nozomi loan.
 The 47-year-old has an office job and also runs a family rice farm. Last year  he began drowning in debt to pay his two children's college fees and buy new farm equipment.
 "So many bills began piling up " he said. "I realized I needed help."
 His plight sounds much like that of millions worldwide in these tough times  but Japan is different. Here banks set stringent conditions for loans  forcing borrowers to rope relatives and friends into guaranteeing repayment.
 Ishikawa  partly self-employed  was typical of the hard-luck cases in this city of rice farms  cattle ranches and hot springs. But rather than abandon hope  he went to the local bank  which referred him to city hall.
 The city assigned him a case worker  who got him legal advice and eventually a 10-year personal loan of 8.2 million yen ($93 000)  at 7.9 percent interest  which he used to consolidate his debt.
 Ishikawa's debt payments are about $1 000 a month -- half of what he had struggled to pay before.
 "The loan gave me breathing room  and now I actually have some money left over every month " he said. "The nozomi loan saved me before my troubles drove me toward suicide."

For suicidal Japanese help is finally at hand