A government advisory panel has proposed renewed efforts to reduce suicides by focusing more on postpartum depression, overwork and bullying in schools.
While the number of suicides in Japan has been declining in recent years, the panel urged the government to aim for a 30 percent reduction over the next 10 years in view of the lower suicide rates in other developed countries.
Suicides in Japan fell below 30,000 in 2012 for the first time in 15 years and stood at 21,897 last year, after peaking at 34,427 in 2003, the National Police Agency said.
On Wednesday, the panel urged a cut in suicides per 100,000 people to less than 13.0 by 2026 from 18.5 in 2015. That compares with 13.4 in the United States in 2014 and 7.5 in Britain in 2013.
Based on this, the government will finalize suicide prevention guidelines this summer, which are reviewed every five years.
The new proposals come as the government struggles to raise the birthrate amid a shortage of child care facilities, end Japan's culture of overwork and reduce suicides linked to bullying in schools.
The 2012 guidelines called for steps on bullying and suicides related to the March 2011 calamity.
The issue of overwork has attracted renewed public attention since the suicide of a 24-year-old employee at ad giant Dentsu Inc. was recognized as a case of karoshi (death from overwork).