Yale professor calls for mass suicide for Japanese seniors and mandatory euthanasia

By James Schadenberg

Yusuke Narita

On February 12, 2023, the New York Times published an article by reporters Mokoyoko Rich and Hikari Hida about controvesial statements made by an assistant professor of economics at Yale named Dr. Yusuke Narita regarding the burdens caused by Japan's rapidly-aging society.

Dr. Narita believes that the only solution to relieving the financial strains caused by Japan's aging demographics is the mass suicide of the elderly. He also believes it is possible that euthanasia will become mandatory. As the New York Times reports:

"I feel the only solution is pretty clear," [Narita] said during one online news program in late 2021. “In the end, isn’t it mass suicide and mass ‘seppuku’ of the elderly?” Seppuku is an act of ritual disembowelment that was a code among dishonored samurai in the 19th century.

Last year, when asked by a school-age boy to elaborate on his mass seppuku theories, Dr. Narita graphically described to a group of assembled students a scene from “Midsommar,” a 2019 horror film in which a Swedish cult sends one of its oldest members to commit suicide by jumping off a cliff.

“Whether that’s a good thing or not, that’s a more difficult question to answer,” Dr. Narita told the questioner as he assiduously scribbled notes. “So if you think that’s good, then maybe you can work hard toward creating a society like that.”

At other times he has broached the topic of euthanasia. "The possibility of making it mandatory in the future," he said in one interview, will "come up in discussion".

The article claims that Dr. Narita has developed a large following in Japan, partially due to his provocative statements. He has hundreds of thousands of followers on social media and frequently appears on Japanese online shows. The New York Times reports:

A growing group of critics warn that Dr. Narita’s popularity could unduly sway public policy and social norms. Given Japan’s low birthrate and the highest public debt in the developed world, policymakers increasingly worry about how to fund Japan’s expanding pension obligations. The country is also grappling with growing numbers of older people who suffer from dementia or die alone.

The comments made by Dr. Narita calling for the mass suicide of the elderly are disturbing and reflective of a mind that's been distorted to see vulnerable groups as being a mere problem that must be dealt with, as opposed to groups of persons who worthy of being treated with dignity and respect. 

Dr. Narita's predictions of mandatory euthanasia are shocking but not without historic precedence. Societies have never been immune from reducing vulnerable groups to "undesireables". As seen in the eugenics and euthanasia programs of the 20th century, human rights are sometimes ignored to "deal with" the financial strains attributed to these groups. Dr. Narita is not the first person to suggest euthanasia as a method to reduce healthcare spending, nor will he be the last.

 Further reading:

• Japanese dystopian euthanasia film "Plan 75" (Link).
• Canada has become a world leader in euthanasia (Link).
  
• Canada's health care savings attributed to euthanasia (Link).
  

Nitschke launches online euthanasia manual

Philip Nitschke, Australia's Dr. Death, has done it again.

He is now launching an online version of his peacepill pill handbook in order to get around the fact that many nations, including Australia, have declared his book to be illegal to import.

The text of the ebook are also connected to detailed video of how to effectively kill oneself. Methods include use of the drug Nembutal that is obtained from veternary clinics in Mexico and the use of the plastic bag commonly known as an Exit Bag.

Nitschke is moving forward with his online suicide service while at the same time the UK, Japan, South Korea and other nations are attempting to block internet suicide sites due to an increase in suicide rates related to internet suicide promotion.

Nitscke was quoted by the Australian Broadcasting Corporation as saying:

"(The book) will finally make it possible for many elderly people in Australia too frail and elderly to attend an end of life workshop to obtain the material directly and in the privacy of their own home."

Nitschke, who is the maverick Australian leader of Exit International promoted the peaceful pill that allegedly could be available to anyone at anytime.

Several years ago Wesley Smith reported comments by Nitschke in an article titled "Noxious Nitschke" stating that the "peaceful pill" could be available to troubled teens.
Link to article on national review online:
http://www.nationalreview.com/smithw/smith200411150826.asp

I have been stating for a long-time that all western nations need to ban suicide promotion websites in the way we are banning child-pornography websites. Suicide promotion websites, such as the site sponsored by Nitscke, directly threaten the lives of vulnerable people who are often depressed or experiencing mental health issues.

Remember, even though Nitschke is a maverick in the euthanasia lobby he does not represent a different philosophy than that held by the mainstream. The final goal for Dying with Dignity in the Netherlands is the approval of the "Last-Will-Pill".

The only difference between Nitschke and the mainstream euthanasia lobby is the fact that Nitschke will publicly go outside of the law in order to achieve his final goal.

Link to article on Nitschke online euthanasia manual:
http://www.abc.net.au:80/news/stories/2008/10/13/2389521.htm

Links to other articles about Philip Nitschke:
http://alexschadenberg.blogspot.com/2008/08/grieving-family-wants-suicide-book.html

Link to article about the Japanese suicide problem:
http://alexschadenberg.blogspot.com/2008/06/japan-gripped-by-suicide-epidemic.html

Mum steps up war on suicide sites:
http://alexschadenberg.blogspot.com/2008/04/mum-steps-up-war-on-suicide-sites.html

Predators tell children how to kill themselves - Church of Euthanasia

By Alex Schadenberg
Executive Director - Euthanasia Prevention Coalition

I was cleaning up my old email and I found this article from February 2008, that explains how certain elements within the right to die movement are preying on vulnerable teenagers and others to provide them a "service" of suicide information.

The article was reporting on the new suicide threat that has been posed by suicide promoting websites. The article explains:

A network of "suicide gurus" who use the internet to advise people how to kill themselves has been exposed.

They are blamed for prompting depressed and vulnerable youngsters to take their own lives.

Campaigners have uncovered 29 "internet suicides" in Britain since 2001, including two new cases reported this weekend.

The article then examines how these suicide promoting websites operate:

Among the most notorious suicide websites ... are two discussion forums, or "chatrooms", in which users offer advice on how to end one's life.

In some cases, people with suicidal feelings have been encouraged to take their own lives rather than to seek professional advice.

In a posting on one of the sites last week, a desperate user wanting to know how hang himself was directed, by another correspondent, to a website containing drawings of knots and nooses.

The article then uncovers an American group called the Church of Euthanasia:

One of the most notorious figures on the internet suicide scene is Nagasvia Yronwode, a self-confessed satanist who runs a shop selling occult books and charms in the small California town of Forestville, north of San Francisco.

Yronwode, 46, describes himself as the "outreach director" for an extremist cult called the Church of Euthanasia, which advocates suicide as a means of saving the world from the effects of overpopulation.

The work of Nagasvia Yronwode is then uncovered:

Writing under the name Boboroshi, he has edited a suicide guide, which details various methods.

Yronwode/Boboroshi told the Telegraph: "The guide is there to make it easier for people who opt for suicide to carry it out. The purpose of my information is empowerment for competent human beings who have an interest in ending their lives.

"I haven't seen any evidence that any person has acted as a result of reading the guide. But, of course, people who have an interest in ending their lives may well seek out information that relates to suicide and in somes cases that leads them to end their lives." he stated

The article concludes with a telling statement by Yronwode:

"I'm not the protector of these troubled youths. Their parents are the people who made them troubled. They are responsible for them. They should look at their living conditions, genetic features and local conditions which might lead them to take their own lives. Everything else is a distraction."

It is obvious that all industrialized nations need to change their laws concerning suicide prevention to explicitely include the crime of aid, abeting or counseling suicide, via the internet or other communications medium.

Suicide promoting websites have led to hundreds of deaths in Japan and the people who operate these websites are hell bent on creating a universal human right to die.

Link to the article in the Telegraph:
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/global/main.jhtml?xml=/global/2008/02/18/noindex/nweb117.xml

Link to previous article:
http://alexschadenberg.blogspot.com/2008/06/uk-government-discussing-closure-of.html

South Korea takes measures to tackle suicide "disgrace"

South Korea has been inflicted by one of the highest suicide rates in the world, a suicide rate that is even higher than in Japan.

The government has decided to activate measures in 10 different government departments to lower their suicide rate. The complete plan will be released next week.

Actions will include:
- building screen doors on platform stops at train stations.
- tighter regulations on the sale of pesticides and other poisons.
- welfare payments will be improved.
- internet sites that encourage suicide will be blocked.

There needs to be an international policy of blocking websites that promote suicide. Japan, Britain, Australia, South Korea, Germany and more are now recognizing that websites that promote and counsel suicide are encouraging people who are depressed or suicidal to go ahead and commit suicide.

The instructions on these websites are causing copy-cat acts of suicide as well as encouraging group suicide.

Dr. Philip Nitschke, Australia's Dr. Death, has operated a website that provides instructions and counsels suicide. He has even distributed short - how to - video's on U- Tube.

Society needs to recognize the importance of protecting vulnerable people.

Link to the articles:
http://www.abc.net.au:80/news/stories/2008/09/01/2352533.htm?section=world

http://afp.google.com:80/article/ALeqM5g_fznfPOpubTseliNtgNEvI4yjvA

Ministry of Justice in the UK seek to curb internet suicide sites

The Ministry of Justice in the UK is proposing to block websites that encourage vulnerable teenagers to commit suicides.

The article in The Independent states that dozens of suicides have been linked to internet chatrooms. At least 30 suicides have been identified in which the internet was a significant contributor to the act.

The article states:

"They are urging internet service providers (ISPs) to veto "harmful and distasteful" suicide sites, and to provide automatic links to such organisations as the Samaritans or ChildLine when users try to find information on suicide. ISPs already warn website managers that "offensive" material will be automatically taken down from the internet."

The Ministry of Justice believes more must be done and is examining whether the legislation controlling assisted suicide websites is strong enough.

The article also states that:

"The Department of Health (DoH) said there were practical problems in policing the constantly changing World Wide Web, but the Government was determined to force ISPs to shut down irresponsible sites."

The suicide prevention strategy in the UK has proven to be successful. The suicide rate has fallen (2005 - 2007) to 8.3 deaths per 100,000 persons from 8.5 deaths per 100,000 persons in the three previous years. The government has set a target of reducing suicide rates by 20% to 7.3 deaths per 100,000 persons by (2009 - 2011).

The department of health is quoted to state:

"We are pleased that the levels of suicide are coming down but we need to be alert to the possible dangers of the internet. ... The work is at an early stage but we are determined to find ways of protecting people at risk."

All of the wealthy nations of the world need to follow the lead of the British by blocking suicide promoting websites.

The Japanese, who have a suicide epidemic, have also moved to block suicide promoting websites and the Australian government passed a law making it a crime to aid, abet or counsel suicide via the internet or other communications methods.

The article:
http://www.independent.co.uk:80/news/uk/politics/ministers-seek-curbs-on-internet-suicide-sites-for-teenagers-882604.html

Previous articles:
http://alexschadenberg.blogspot.com/2008/06/uk-government-discussing-closure-of.html

http://alexschadenberg.blogspot.com/2008/04/mum-steps-up-war-on-suicide-sites.html

Japanese suicide epidemic:
http://alexschadenberg.blogspot.com/2008/07/suicide-epidemic-grips-japan.html

Suicide Epidemic Grips Japan

Another insightful article has been written about the suicide epidemic in Japan.

Paul Wiseman in USA Today writes about how the suicide epidemic has changed now that suicide websites that in fact - aid, abet and counsel suicide, are available.

Wiseman writes:
"The 517 self-inflicted deaths by hydrogen sulfide poisoning this year are part of a bigger, grimmer story: Nearly 34000 Japanese killed themselves last year."

Wiseman explains that one of the reasons that authorities are alarmed that suicide has reached epidemic levels (among others) is:
"The internet has allowed young, depressed Japanese to get suicide tips and find others with whom they can enter into death pacts."

Wiseman also quotes Koji Tsukino, a anti-suicide activist who is a recovered alcoholic and drug user who attempted suicide 10 times before his 30th birthday.

Tsukino says:
"the latest suicide craze is even scarier than those in the past."

He then says:
"Hydrogen sulfide is dangerous even to those who don't wnat to kill themselves. The toxic gas can carry into neighboring buildings and apartments. In April 80 people were injured and another 120 had to be evacuated after a 14-year-old girl killed herself with hydrogen sulphide in southern Japan's Kochi prefecture. She'd left a note on the door of her family's apartment that said, "Gas being emitted. Don't open," according to the kyodu news service."

Wiseman finishes his article by stating:
"Police have asked internet providers to ban websites the promote suicide - but with only only mixed success."

There needs to be a world-wide ban by all nations on suicide promoting websites. Aiding, abeting and couseling suicide via the internet directly threatens the lives of people who are depressed, mentally incompetent or experiencing a sense of hopelessness.

We need to protect depressed people in the same way as we are protecting children from being victims of child porn websites.

To link to the original article: http://www.usatoday.com:80/news/world/2008-07-20-japan-suicides_N.htm

To link other blog postings on the issue:
http://alexschadenberg.blogspot.com/2008/06/uk-government-discussing-closure-of.html
http://alexschadenberg.blogspot.com/2008/05/internet-providers-urged-to-remove.html

Japan gripped by suicide epidemic

Many people refuse to recognize the connection between suicide and assisted suicide.

The primary indicator for requests for euthanasia or assisted suicide is depression or a feeling of hopelessness. This happens to be the same primary indicator for suicide attempts.

The recent phenomenon of suicide promoting websites that offer instructions and in some cases counseling to encourage someone to commit suicide further connects suicide to assisted suicide.

Some of these suicide promoting/counseling websites are operated by groups that exist to legalize euthanasia and assisted suicide. One of those website operators is Dr. Philip Nitschke from Australia.

This is a significant problem in Japan. If you read the article from the link you will notice that Japan has a suicide epidemic that has been worsened by the suicide websites.
http://www.timesonline.co.uk:80/tol/news/world/asia/article4170649.ece

On May 1, I reported about a call for internet providers in Japan to block access to suicide websites in relation to the surge in suicides in Japan.
http://alexschadenberg.blogspot.com/2008/05/internet-providers-urged-to-remove.html

This has also become a problem in the UK. If you link to one of my previous blog posts you will notice that the problem of suicide websites has become so prevalent in one region of the UK that the government is discussing strenghtening the law to shut-down these websites.
http://alexschadenberg.blogspot.com/2008/06/uk-government-discussing-closure-of.html

I am convinced that these websites have a similar effect on society as legalizing assisted suicide. Suicide promotion/counseling websites prey on the vulnerable who are either depressed or feeling a sense of hopelessness.

Often these people have been marginalized in society or made to feel like they are a burden on society or feel like they have no one who cares for them or no reason to live.

More often these are people who are experiencing clinical depression or treatable mental conditions. These are the people society needs to protect.

Vulnerable people are also the ones who become victimized by euthanasia or assisted suicide. Undiagnosed depression is a common problem. Just because someone has a terminal or chronic condition, does not mean that their request for euthanasia or assisted suicide is not a cry for help in a difficult personal time.

These websites need to be shut-down on a world-wide basis. The purveyors of these websites need to be prosecuted in a similar manner as people who are circulating child pornography.

These websites directly effect the most vulnerable in society and they must be stopped.

Suicide websites and internet chatrooms could be closed down

Madeleine Moon, MP (Bridgend in South Wales), is asking her government to amend the 1961 law that forbids suicide counseling by making it illegal to counsel or promote suicide via the internet, email or other communications devices.

There have been 20 recent suicides in South Wales that are believed to have involved suicide sites or suicide chatrooms.

Currently the law is interpreted to only forbid face to face suicide aiding, abeting or counseling suicide.

Moon stated that "these websites are horrendous. They push people to kill themselves and tell them how to do it."

Vernon Coaker, the Home Office Minister told the justice committee that the Government was determined to act.

He stated that: "Aiding and abeting suicide, online or offline, is illegal. Something should be done about it and they (websites) should be taken down."

A Ministry of Justice spokesman said: "There are difficulties as many of them are based overseas, but we're considering whether the law can be strengthened.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2082806/Suicide-websites-and-internet-chatrooms-could-be-closed-down.html

At the same time Japan is being hit by more horrific suicide deaths in connection to suicide websites.

There have been at least 182 cases since late March in which people have killed themselves following instructions on the internet that explain how to mix household chemicals to generate hydrogen sulphide gas.
http://www.news.com.au/dailytelegraph/story/0,22049,23809619-5006003,00.html

Every nation needs to outlaw suicide promoting websites in a similar manner as Australia did a few years ago. If the UK strengthens their laws concerning suicide websites, momentum will be started for Canada and the other common law nations to follow suit.

34 evacuated from suicide death in Japan

Japanese police evacuated 34 people from an apartment building today in response to another noxious suicide death.
http://ap.google.com:80/article/ALeqM5j6PLZUNkGmdLuPBwOfA4OEi00V1QD9131E383

The epidemic of suicide deaths has been exasperated by the new trend of downloading instructions from the internet to make a suicide gas concoction.

Japan has always had a high suicide rate but government figures show that 84 people committed suicide last month in Japan with the help of suicide instructions from the internet that give specific instructions as to how to mix chemicals for suicide.

The police are cracking down on websites that provide suicide information and they recently asked web providers to shut-down sites that promote suicide.

http://alexschadenberg.blogspot.com/2008/05/japan-looks-to-lower-suicide-rate.html
http://alexschadenberg.blogspot.com/2008/05/internet-providers-urged-to-remove.html

Once again, it is imperative that something be done to shut down websites that promote suicide. Society is effectively shutting down child porn websites, the same needs to be done for suicide promotion websites.

Related news:

The American Foundation for Suicide Prevention has given an $85,000 two year grant to researcher Mark S. Kaplan to make recommendations concerning the suicide rate in Oregon.
http://www.oregonlive.com/health/oregonian/index.ssf?/base/news/1212528319125450.xml&coll=7

It is very interesting that the only state in the US that has legalized assisted suicide is also within the top 5 for seniors suicide rates in the US.

Japan looks to lower suicide rate

Japan is reviewing its guidelines aimed at reducing the number of suicides in Japan and hopes to reduce the suicide rate by 20 percent by 2016.
http://www.bloomberg.com:80/apps/news?pid=20601101&sid=a_2Lhi9MAfY0&refer=japan

Japan has been plagued by more than 30,000 suicide deaths each year over the past 10 years. According to the United Nations they have the 9th highest suicide rate in the world.

Recently the Japanese government asked internet providers to block websites that promote suicide and suicide methods, such as hydrogen sulphide on the internet after their was a rash of suicides committed using these techniques in the past few months. http://alexschadenberg.blogspot.com/2008/05/internet-providers-urged-to-remove.html

Chief Cabinet Secretary Nobutaka Machimura said "It's outrageous that something that seems to promote suicide is widely available on the Internet. There is freedom of expression but it must be accompanied by responsibility. These things shouldn't go unregulated."

The Australian government passed a law prohibiting the promotion and counseling of suicide on the internet a few years ago in response to the work of Dr. Philip Nitschke, the Australian Dr. Death, who was providing suicide and counseling people to commit suicide via the internet.

All western nations need laws that protect vulnerable depressed and mentally incompetent people from falling victim to the euthanasia lobby who are promoting suicide (right to die) as a human right.

54 ill as new toxic fume suicide hits Japan

CNN news has reported about a suicide case in Japan that resulted in 54 people becoming sick from the toxic fumes related to the suicide concoction that was composed of a liquid pesticide.
http://edition.cnn.com/2008/WORLD/asiapcf/05/22/toxic.suicide/?iref=hpmostpop

Earlier this month a 24 year old man committed suicide by mixing laundry detergent and cleaning fluids.

In April, a 14 year old girl used the same method to commit suicide, resulting in 90 neighbors becoming sick from the toxic fumes.

CNN reported that:
"The suicides are seen as part of a spate of detergent-related deaths that experts say have been encouraged by Internet suicide sites since last summer.
Seiji Yoshikawa, deputy head of the Internet Hot Line, which operates under the guidelines of police, said the number of sites promoting detergent suicides soared in April.
"They are rife on the Internet. Writing examples include 'you can die easily and beautifully' and 'this is much easier than charcoal-burning suicide,'" Yoshikawa said, referring to a once-popular suicide method, The Associated Press reported.'

On May 1, I reported about a call for internet providers in Japan to block access to suicide websites in relation to the surge in suicides in Japan.
http://alexschadenberg.blogspot.com/2008/05/internet-providers-urged-to-remove.html

Governments on a world-wide basis need to enact laws to shut down websites that promote and counsel people to commit suicide in order to protect the vulnerable depressed and mentally ill people who are using these websites.

Websites that promote child pornography are effectively being shut down due to laws that have been enacted to protect children. In the same way we need to shut down websites that promote suicide.

Dr. Philip Nitschke, the Australian Dr. Death and the visible leader of the Right to Die lobby in Australia, has been involved in suicide counseling via the internet for many years. The Right to Die is not about dignity with dignity, it is about creating a universal "right to die".
http://www.cnsnews.com/ViewForeignBureaus.asp?Page=/ForeignBureaus/archive/200609/INT20060912a.html


http://www.news.com.au/story/0,23599,23633391-2,00.html

Internet providers urged to remove 'suicide gas' instructions

The euthanasia lobby likes to talk about choice and the right of competent people to make decisions about their own autonomy.

The reality is that the euthanasia lobby is really about creating a “right to die” meaning that people would have the right to have someone else directly involved in their death at the time of their choosing.

The euthanasia lobby really doesn’t care that their utopian vision directly threatens the lives of vulnerable people.

The posting of specific suicide instructions on the internet has prompted a strong response from Japanese police.

The National Police Agency in Japan has asked ISPs, telecom firms and cable broadcasters for help after 48 people have died using homemade hydrogen sulphide to commit suicide in the past month alone. They are asking that instructions on how to produce hydrogen sulphide gas be removed from suicide websites.

Remember, choice is a euphemism that is used by the euthanasia lobby to push a radical agenda for an international “right” to die.

Victims of suicide do not choose death, but rather die out of an extreme feeling of hopelessness that is often related to depression, mental illness or breakdown.

For more information go to http://www.radioaustralia.net.au/news/stories/200805/s2232104.htm?tab=asia