Quoting from this site:
Increasing numbers of young people in Japan are feeling alienated by modern life. Several thousand are termed “hikikomori” – recluses who never leave their room, finding entertainment only on the internet. The suicide pacts still make up a relatively small proportion of Japan’s suicides. More than 34,000 Japanese took their own lives in 2003, according to the National Police Agency – an increase of more than 7 % from the previous year.
This is horrible. The suicide pacts mentioned are people using the internet to find others like them–so they don’t die alone. People making connections, reaching out, just to die. The article said the government is going after the sites where these people meet, which kind of makes sense. Until you notice that most of the suicides, they’re doing it the old-fashioned way.
Maybe instead of stopping the pacts, someone ought to be focused on how to keep people from wanting to die.