Japan's Catcher in the Rye

Japan has its own real catcher in the rye according to Time Magazine (June 22nd Health Issue). As the global financial crisis pounds Japan's economy, the number of suicides in Japan has risen to 23.8 per 100,000 people, making Japan the home of the highest suicide rate in the world. The well-known place that many go to die is Tojinbo cliffs, a rocky piece of land bordering the Sea of Japan.

Since 2004 Yukio Shige, a former police detective, and trained counselor, has made it his singular cause to patrol the Tojinbo cliffs in the hope of preventing desperate Japanese citizens from jumping. He has successfully saved 188 people, talking them down from the cliffs and then counseling them to see their lives as not desperate but only the beginning of a larger, more meaningful journey. Shige has funded his cause largely through his own retirement savings and donations. Recently, the Japanese government has awarded him 100 million to support his patrol, as well as the counseling he provides.

Reading about Yuko Shige made me wonder what pushes someone to such deep despair that they are willing to leave the earth and the ones they love. The article cites unemployment and financial hardship, things that are truly devastating but can be fixed. Many fortunes have been won and lost around the world by the best and the smartest. I suppose all humans feel desperate about their lives at some point; drug use, broken heart, family arguments, losing their job, losing a loved one. I dearly hope my children never entertain the thought of ending their lives. If they ever do, I hope someone like Shige will be there to catch them before they fall or, if I’m lucky, that they’ll come to me to seek solace.