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Yamanashi uses toilet paper messages to help suicidal youth
TOKYO
- Authorities in central Japan are trying an unusual new approach to tackle the country's longstanding suicide problem: printing messages of support on toilet paper.
"Dear you, who might want to end it all," reads the toilet paper being used in a new initiative to reach out to suicidal young people in the country.
Suicide is a longstanding problem in Japan, and like many places, the country saw a spike in deaths by suicide during parts of the pandemic.
The number of elementary, middle and high school-age students dying by suicide hit a new record of 499 in 2020, according to the health ministry.
"You're alone in the toilet. We felt that it's at moments like this when you might be more prone to thoughts of anguish", Yamanashi official Kenichi Miyazawa told AFP.