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50 Comments
- FattyMagee, on 11/04/2009, -0/+41I'm pretty sure their message is "I know you want to kill your self, thats cool, just do it somewhere else so that we don't have to clean up"
- ipushmycar, on 11/04/2009, -0/+35Blue, the color of sadness.
PERFECT! - Hetman, on 11/04/2009, -0/+27I know it is cultural and traditional for Japanese to have a higher suicide rate than most industrialized countries. However they do not see to be getting to the root of the cause. I mean blue lights, signs that say life is beautifull. At a certian point you probably decide that suicide is the solution and some signs and or soothing lights does not seem like it is going to help much.
- pygmy, on 11/04/2009, -0/+22They prevent suicides via Bullet Train by making the family of the deceased pay for all clean up & damage costs. It's a big deal to bring dishonor on ones family. Strange but TRUE!!
- Buddhist, on 11/04/2009, -1/+17In other news, the number of Japanese jumping in front of oncoming cars rises 125%.
- hkrob, on 11/04/2009, -0/+15Hong Kong solution, platform screen doors - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Platform_screen_doors
- DaviDTC, on 11/04/2009, -0/+12They should paint the water under the Golden Gate Bridge blue.
- mnemy, on 11/05/2009, -0/+10Or... you could change your culture to work less hours, change the social hierarchy so that employees don't have to grovel to their bosses... you know, that kind of stuff.
But yeah, pretty lights should trump all of that - scuba7183, on 11/04/2009, -0/+9I'd imagine people are very peaceful right before they kill themselves
- cheddaro, on 11/04/2009, -0/+8If that type of tradition were part of the US culture, then TMZ would cease to exist...
- guyinjapan, on 11/05/2009, -0/+7Yeah, train suicide is definitely a problem over there. I've witnessed a Japanese guy throwing himself in front of the train not two feet away from me. One second he was standing next to me, and the next he was flailing on the tracks trying to keep people from pulling him up. Luckily someone hit the emergency button and stopped the train, but it was pretty shocking to see up close. I doubt the lights are going to help much though, but you never know.
- nixpix66, on 11/04/2009, -0/+6Warning: NSFW Jap Horror Movie. Watch at own risk
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oyV3VD3pBiU - synfin80, on 11/04/2009, -0/+5After reading that article I'm feeling kinda blue....
- Hetman, on 11/04/2009, -0/+5Tradition. Traditionally if you shame yourself or your family you take your own life. It is not the worst thing. I wish maddoff would feel enough shame to take his own life. This is not going to happen though.
- blitzkriegpunk, on 11/04/2009, -0/+4I don't understand. Shouldn't all this money go into stopping this issue at the source?
- PlatnumPlatypus, on 11/04/2009, -0/+4Isn't life on earth ATTRACTED to light?
Plants - photosynthesis, attracted to the sun
Bugs - fly toward the light, think "Bug's Life" "Don't go towards the light!"
Human - fascination with fire, city lights at night
I am a simple kind of man. Regardless of the pains of life experienced that day, I imagine they too, would be washed away in something shiny. - guyinjapan, on 11/05/2009, -0/+4They already have those in some Tokyo stations; off the top of my head, I think Roppongi it-chome and other Namboku line stations have them, among others. But the article mentions that it's very expensive, and that's why they're trying other things before installing platform fences in every station. There are thousands of train platforms in the Tokyo area, so installing fences at all of them is going to take an extensive amount of time and money. I don't think the blue lights are going to work, but hey, it's cheaper.
Edit: Yeah, in fact, here's a pic of the station I mentioned that I dug up on Wikipedia,
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Roppongi_1chome- ... - MacGyver2210, on 11/04/2009, -0/+4Jisatsu-bu FTFW
That movie only gets better each time with the comical amount of fake blood in various suicide scenes. The best part of the whole movie is that everyone's being roped into committing suicide by a pack of 12-year-old girls. - spuddbuddie, on 11/05/2009, -0/+3and "the source" would be...? The problem is, there's no such thing as stopping human emotion. I commend them for at least trying something. I can hardly think of a better use of $165,000 in this situation.
- Hamakuas, on 11/04/2009, -0/+3Two of the contributing reasons I can think of is the east's respect and adoration of introverted character (whether you are introverted or not) relative to how the west sees introversion as well as the stigma attached to speaking about personal issues. Asian psychiatrists and psychologists are uncommon. Generally if there is anything "going on" it is expected to be kept inside the family.
- chessoriginal, on 11/04/2009, -0/+3hmm...depress everyone so much that they are too depressed to even think about suicide...
brilliant. - blitzkriegpunk, on 11/05/2009, -0/+2I don't know the source and neither do you, but you'd think, given the trend of suicides in Japan, the powers that be would take a step back and put more effort in researching WHY people in their culture drive themselves to this point? I commend the effort as well, but these resources could be better spent elsewhere.
- crossmr, on 11/05/2009, -0/+2"Alarmed by a rise in people jumping to their deaths in front of trains, some Japanese railway operators are installing special blue lights above station platforms they hope will have a soothing effect and reduce suicides." Yeah that is the logical solution.. blue lights.
here in south korea they've just installed glass walls and automatic doors at every station so you physically can't..but hey..a wall, blue lights.. its a logical choice.. - Jarasmen, on 11/05/2009, -1/+3Their toilets ***** talk and probably have better hardware than my desktop and laptop combined. You can't get better with culture than that.
- patrickh64, on 11/04/2009, -1/+3This seriously sounds like an Onion article.
- spuddbuddie, on 11/05/2009, -0/+2I agree to a certain degree. But you have to keep in mind, the power that put this action into motion is just a railroad company, trying something new and I would assume if they had the money, they would have put the barriers up before the lights.
- H4n90fThur5D4y5, on 11/05/2009, -0/+2Haha, that movie's a trip. I thought I was following the plot pretty well, right up until the singing transexual right in the middle of it 0_o ...
- coheedcollapse, on 11/04/2009, -0/+2Every time I hear about train suicide I just think about the beginning of Suicide Club (or Suicide Circle, whatever you call it).
The fact that this is happening in Japan doesn't help. - bkVII, on 11/05/2009, -0/+1Mm.. sounds like the soothing blue lights might just lead to more-soothing suicides :x
- eavesdrop, on 11/05/2009, -0/+1No I dont think they're gonna do a bastardization of psalm 22.
- nurbsenvi, on 11/04/2009, -0/+1Why don't they play Gloomy Sunday to go with that lighting?
- zinc6471, on 11/04/2009, -0/+1http://www.cnn.com/2009/WORLD/asiapcf/03/19/suicid ...
how about a hike? - ZellD, on 11/05/2009, -0/+1@crossmr
I don't think they are more valuable personally. I just know that it is a very expensive proposition to renovate entire train platforms for that purpose. Not only in terms of materials and construction but also the cost of train downtime while the platforms are renovated.
They have started to implement the same system in London's underground and I've seen them in Osaka too but the costs are so high that it's only been done in a few stations. It will be many many years before you see it universal. Often they do it when they are in the process of renovating the station anyway.
The need has been recognized but financial limitations still exist in the real world. - Jarasmen, on 11/05/2009, -0/+1Also the peer school/work pressure and a sort of cultural acceptance of suicide, you know, the whole honor regaining stuff.
- Hetman, on 11/04/2009, -0/+1True that. However if a celebrity wants to get drunk and embarras herself. I really do not have a problem with that. However if you do not feel shame for stealing millions of dollars illegally from innocent people then you are a monster.
- H4n90fThur5D4y5, on 11/05/2009, -0/+1This is exactly what I was thinking! I think people are most agitated before they've actually made a decision about the act, but once they've actually decided on it they're calm, resigned. I don't know if this is going to make people less likely to commit suicide, or just more comfortable- less scared of doing it...
- masterstghm, on 11/06/2009, -0/+1Does this have any effect on Suicide Clubs?
- ZellD, on 11/05/2009, -0/+1Well first I wouldn't assume that they are trying to curb suicide in general. Rather, the aim seems to be to keep people from doing it in front of trains which severely disrupts schedules.
Second, blue light might have the ability to make a substantial impact. I know a lot of train stations have put mirrors up on the walkways to platforms to discourage suicide. Apparently it's been statistically effective. Perhaps blue light has that potential. - themastersb, on 11/05/2009, -0/+1All suicide "victims" will be known as an heroes.
- FleetlordAtvar, on 11/05/2009, -0/+1"Oh God! Oh God! Why hast thou forsaken me? What have I done to deserve such crippling agonies? I should just end it all! I'll just leap off the trai- Oh, wow... Holy Mother of God... The light - it's angelic. Look at that blue! It's such a *blue* blue! So blue! All of a sudden life is worth living! I don't need to kill myself anymore!"
^Is that roughly what they think will be going through the would-be suicide's mind thanks to their blue lights? - Dugglous, on 11/05/2009, -0/+1But why is that strange?
I think it's strange if you actually don't feel ashamed to bring dishonor to your own family. - ZellD, on 11/05/2009, -1/+1Cost benefit calculation.
- crossmr, on 11/05/2009, -1/+1which is clearly in favor of the glass walls and doors. The psychological damage to the train driver, the loss of life, public relations, delays in transit, etc all more than the cost of some glass.
- Spirods, on 11/04/2009, -1/+1they seem depressing to me, maybe its their new way of population control
- inactive, on 11/04/2009, -1/+1Not really.
- crossmr, on 11/05/2009, -1/+1You're kind of an ***** if you think all of those things are more valuable than a little glass.
- ZirconiumZephyr, on 11/05/2009, -0/+0Interestingly, this is the reason we see a spike in suicides shortly after prescription of anti-depressant medication. The drugs take their time to reach full effect and in the time between, some patients lose their sense of apathy first and commit suicide before the drugs can really help.
Bit scary really. - d3dm, on 11/04/2009, -3/+1Population density?
- blitzkriegpunk, on 11/05/2009, -4/+1... digg this one down ...
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