Japanese news this week has been awash with reports of an internet suicide, as a young man was found dead in his apartment in the Northern Japanese city of Sendai, part of the Miyagi prefecture. Police were alerted to the suicide by users of a video streaming site, Ustream, on which the man announced his attention to kill himself and then followed through with the act several days later to the alternate horror and delight of site users.
Reports suggest that the young man, who lived alone, had repeatedly announced his intention to commit suicide on series of internet forums and video domain hosting sites. He had been on sick leave from his job as a web developer since late August and frequently complained of the conditions in his line of work.
As he returned to Ustream at the pre-appointed time last Tuesday, comments and discussions began flooding the free hosting page where the video was shown, some urging the man to go through with his suicidal intentions at the earliest opportunity, with others trying to prevent him with kind words and imprecations.
It is worth mentioning that Japan has the highest suicide rate in the world among developed countries, and that November is the most suicide-prone month of the year, especially in Northern cities such as Sendai.
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