JAPAN / Society

As summer vacations end, grass-roots movements in Japan work on counseling suicidal students and truants

Yudai Hirota, 23, speaks about his experiences as a truant at a Futoko wa Fuko Janai (Truants Aren't Unhappy People) event in Machida, western Tokyo, on Sunday. Similar events were across the country to discuss truancy and the difficulties students face when returning to school after the summer holidays. | SAKURA MURAKAMI

By Sakura Murakami
Staff Writer

Aug 20, 2018

As summer draws to an end, many begin to feel the post-holiday blues. But for some children, this time of year triggers a different level of anxiety: the terror of going back to school.

The first day of September is the deadliest day for troubled young people in Japan, according to a 2015 white paper published by the Cabinet Office.

The day when most elementary, middle and high school students return to class has caused a total of some 130 people under 18 to kill themselves over the past four decades up to 2015, the paper said — the most compared with all other days of the year.

As summer vacations end, grass-roots movements in Japan work on counseling suicidal students and truants

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