Suicides in Japan

  More than 100 people showed up and thousands more listened vis the Internet to a recent suicide prevention workshop in Japan, a country where over 3,000 people kill themselves every year. one participant said, at age 45, he survived alcoholism, overdosed on drug, slashed his wrists, and tried to hang himself. "I have somehow survived," he said. "But many people I know have died from drug overdoses or leaping from buildings." Japan has one of the world's highest suicide rates, according to the World Health Organization. The annual suicide rate per 100,000 is 35.8 for men, compared with 10.1 in Britain. There are 7 countries with a higher rate, including Belarus, with a figure of 63.3.

  Many experts have pointed at the changes in Japan since its heady boom days and a lingering sense of malaise and anxiety. In a country where compaines during the post-war "economic miracle" years guaranteed jobs for life, unemployment  has crept above 5 percent. As the country's wealth has grown, homeless people, a once relatively rare sight, have become more common in Japanese cities and a generation of young people has been getting by on low-paying temporary jobs. "So many Japanese are living on the edge," psychiatrist Rika Kayama said. "Life itself is like hard labor in Japan?  

 

 1) show up : 모습을 드러내다.      cf. How many people will show up? 몇명이나 올거죠?

 2) listen to A : A 에 귀를 기울이다.    cf. I listen to English every day via TED.

 3) overdose on  A : (주로 약물) 을 과잉투여하다.   cf. drug overdoses : 약물과다복용.

 4) point at A : A을 겨누다. 지적하다.  cf. point a finger at : 사람을 손가락질하다.

                                                        cf. He made an appropriate point at an appropriate time : 적절한 시기에 적절한 지적

 5) heady : 자극시키는, 의기양양하게 하는   cf. heady days : 잘 나가던 시절, 의기양양한 시절.

 6) get by (on/in/with something) : ~그럭저럭 살아가다.   cf. I'll get by with bike until I can afford a car. I've learned get by on the minimum just after retirement.