Another Mass Suicide Suspected in Japan

From today's Observer:

Sunday November 28, 2004 5:31 AM

TOKYO (AP) - Four men were found dead Sunday in a sealed Tokyo apartment littered with charcoal stoves, a scene police said appeared to be Japan's latest suicide pact.

It appeared the four died of carbon monoxide poisoning, police said.

Suicides in Japan hit a record high last year, exceeding 32,000.

Last week in two separate incidents, six people were discovered dead in deserted cars - also strewn with charcoal stoves. In October, seven people killed themselves in what police said was Japan's largest-ever mass suicide.

Japan has recently suffered a rash of suicides pacts, with many involving people who met over the Internet. According to the National Police Agency, 45 people committed suicide in groups after meeting online between January 2003 and June 2004.

[Saburo]

I hope no hot chicks offed themselves.

[Kaoru]

Did they ever say which party were the ones who committed suicide? The ones who intigated the internet meeting or the ones who accepted the messages? It sounds to me like someone is causing people to kill thermselves. I mean... Ohhhh, how can I say this right. What I mean is, there are groups doing this right? Well, what person on the other end is making these groups of people kill themselves? Sounds like somene is trying to kill people through the internet. A sort of internet serial killer. Or, a cult... I hope they are getting ISP addies and doing some serious searching on this. People don't just committ suicide in groups like that for no reason. There has to be somebody behind it all. It is too weird, otherwise.

Carolyn, all the people involved, including the initial instigator, are killing themselves. Basically, it's scary committing suicide alone, so these people band together as a kind of moral support group to kill themselves as a crowd, so they're less likely to chicken out at the last moment. There's no evil puppeteer behind the curtain.

[Kaoru]

Oh, I see. That's what I wanted to know. Thank you. Sheesh, that is just awful though. I wonder what the cause of this is. It's sad and horrible.

From Today's Guardian:

Tuesday December 7, 2004 4:46 AM

TOKYO (AP) - Three people were found dead inside a car parked outside a remote forest in southern Japan early Tuesday in what police suspected was the country's latest group suicide.

The two women and a man, whose identities were not immediately known, were found in Yayoi, in Japan's southern prefecture of Oita, local police spokesman Hideo Sugano said.

The three were believed to have died of carbon monoxide poisoning, Sugano said. Three portable stoves containing solid charcoal fuel sat on the floor and the windows were sealed with vinyl tape from the inside.

Japan has uncovered a series of recent suicide pacts, many plotted by people who met over the Internet.

Eight people were found dead in two separate suicide pacts last week, and at least 13 others have died in similar circumstances since October.

Suicides in Japan hit a record high last year, exceeding 32,000.

The National Police Agency said 45 people committed suicide in groups after meeting online between January 2003 and June 2004.

Suicide pacts have been made over the Internet since the late 1990s and have been reported everywhere from Guam to the Netherlands. Experts say they tend to occur in cycles, with news of group suicides sparking copycat incidents.

Oita is about 500 miles southwest of Tokyo.