Fifty-nine members of the Self-Defense Forces committed suicide in fiscal 2001, down 14 from the previous fiscal year, according to a Defense Agency report released this week.

Forty-four of the victims were members of the Ground Self-Defense Force, up one from the previous year, the report says.

The Maritime Self-Defense Force recorded eight suicides, while the Air Self-Defense Force had seven. Both figures were half those of the previous year.

The figures show that one out of every 3,300 GSDF members committed suicide, while one out of 5,500 MSDF members and one out of 6,400 ASDF members killed themselves.

According to the report, the most probable factors behind the suicides were financial, health and family problems.

All three forces have introduced in-house counseling services that are mainly provided by ranking officers.

Nevertheless, only 3 percent of respondents to a recent survey said they would consult with a counselor, suggesting that many service members are reluctant to discuss private matters with their superiors.

An official of the Ground Staff Office said suicide-prevention efforts involving private sector experts will continue.

Among the GSDF suicides were two unexplained cases in May and one this month involving members of a special 600-strong western army infantry ranger unit established this spring in Sasebo, Nagasaki Prefecture. The unit operates on remote islands off Kyushu and in Okinawa.

The three suicides prompted the Social Democratic Party to dispatch a 15-member investigative team Monday to Sasebo.

The lawmakers questioned senior service members on whether the unit's drills were too taxing or whether soldiers had been subjected to hazing, a form of harassment by superiors.

They asked Col. Masanori Ochi, the regiment's commander, whether training had been conducted in a proper manner and whether measures had been introduced to monitor members believed to be contemplating suicide.

GSDF Chief of Staff Masahiro Nakatani has denied that the three suicides were the result of hazing or organizational problems.

The lawmakers have told reporters that they got the impression that severe training had led to the three suicides.