Japan has one of the highest suicide rates in the world. Indeed,
for men aged 20-44 and women between 15 and 34, it is the
leading cause of death. The rate equates to about 26 deaths per
100,00 people. By contrast, the rate in the US is just 11 per
100,000. Which is why the Japanese government has invested
heavily in programs to understand the causes of suicide and
reduce the number of resulting deaths. Its plan is to cut the
rate by 20 per cent by 2017. Psychologists have studied suicide
for many years. One focus of research is identifying and
studying people who have regular thoughts about suicide, so-
called suicide ideation. The evidence gathered to date suggests
that people with suicidal thoughts tend to be socially isolated,
meaning they have not just fewer friends but are also less
likely to be members of friendship triangles in which three
people are mutual friends. However, these types of studies have
been difficult to do accurately. For young people, the data
comes largely from questionnaires filled