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Two folks have died within the Japanese metropolis of Yokohama after a teenage lady jumped to her loss of life from a buying centre, hitting a pedestrian under.
The 17-year-old highschool pupil jumped from a constructing in a crowded buying district, hitting a 32-year-old girl who was out along with her associates on Saturday night.
The 2 had been instantly taken to hospital round 18:00 native time (09:00 GMT), the place the lady died an hour later. The girl additionally died quickly after.
It isn’t clear why she might need killed herself, although extra folks below the age of 18 in Japan kill themselves on 1 September – simply forward of the brand new faculty time period – than on every other day, in line with official statistics.
Final yr, 513 kids took their very own lives in Japan, with “faculty issues” cited as the most typical issue.
College students who do not wish to return to high school are often called futoko, or “individuals who don’t go to high school.”
The primary the explanation why these futoko keep away from faculty embrace household circumstances, private points with associates, and bullying, in line with a earlier survey by the ministry of schooling.
In recent times, authorities and media organisations have tried to lift public consciousness of the challenges college students face right now of yr.
Japan’s public broadcaster, NHK, for instance, mounted a marketing campaign on Twitter referred to as “on the night time of August 31″.
The latest incident in Yokohama mirrors the same episode in 2020, when a 17-year-old boy jumped from the roof of a buying centre, killing a 19-year-old feminine pupil in a busy district of Osaka.
On the time, the boy was posthumously charged with manslaughter, which means that his household owed compensation to the household of the sufferer he killed. Nonetheless, the cost was dropped shortly afterwards.
Up to now, the authorities haven’t indicated any culpability with reference to Saturday night time’s deaths.
Whereas Japan’s suicide fee is slowly reducing among the many normal inhabitants, it’s rising amongst younger Japanese folks.
Japan is the one G7 nation the place suicide is the main reason behind loss of life for youngsters.
Further reporting by Chika Nakayama in Tokyo.