About 15 percent of elementary and junior high school students in Nagasaki Prefecture believe dead people can be resurrected, according to a recent poll by the prefectural board of education.

Asked why they believe this, roughly half said it is because they have seen stories about resurrection on television or read them in books -- and about 7 percent said because video games can be reset to start over again.

The survey was conducted in November and December, following the killing of a student by an 11-year-old girl in the city of Sasebo in June and a subsequent note issued by a family court that said the girl had only a "vague notion" of what death means.

The girl slashed her classmate's throat after the victim reportedly taunted her on an Internet bulletin board.