Last week, Yuko Takeuchi passed away in an apparent suicide. Her death is one in a string of celebrity suicides this year, including Hana Kimura and Haruma Miura.

The New York Times’ Tokyo bureau reporters Motoko Rich and Hikari Hida recently wrote about these deaths and attempt to explain why they are part of a larger suicide trend in Japan. After a decade of decline, Japanese authorities reported a nearly 16% increase in suicides this August compared to last August. Among teenage girls and women in their 20s and 30s, this increase jumps to 74%.

The coronavirus pandemic could be a culprit, as could Japanese culture itself, which may have saved Japan from having a COVID catastrophe, ironically.

The full article can be read here.

If you or someone you know is considering suicide, please seek help! Here is a list of international suicide prevention hotlines.