Awareness activities for suicide prevention among students and young people in Japan

In recent years, suicide among children and youth in Japan has become a serious issue, underscoring the urgent need for effective suicide prevention and awareness efforts.

While the total number of suicides in Japan has been decreasing to just over 20 000 per year, the number of suicides among elementary, junior high and high school students has been increasing to more than 500, marking the highest number in 2024 since statistics began in 1980, according to the 2024 White Paper on Suicide Countermeasures. Suicide among school-aged children tends to increase when the summer vacation ends at the beginning of September.

Suicides among university students also tend to occur more frequently at the beginning of a new academic year. Although the number of suicides among university students had been declining since 2011, it began increasing in 2019, with more than 400 students dying by suicide annually. The increase is particularly notable among female university students, with the peak age being 21–22 years. Notably, more than half of university students who died by suicide had neither visited a psychiatrist nor a mental health clinic before their death.

According to the 5th Survey on Suicide Ideation by the Nippon Foundation in 2023, half of the young people have experienced suicidal thoughts. However, understanding and awareness of suicide and suicide prevention remain low. Many people perceive suicide prevention as someone else’s problem as revealed in the Survey on Awareness of Suicide Countermeasures by the Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare in 2021.

The causes or motives for suicide remain mostly unclear. Therefore, suicide prevention efforts targeting children and youth need to be universal.

Initiatives by the Japan Suicide Countermeasures Promotion Center (JSCP)

The JSCP conducts several awareness activities targeting children and youth. For example, in 2023 it conducted a student short-film contest on suicide prevention.

To highlight Suicide Prevention Week in 2023 (10–16 September), short student-made films of under 30 seconds were broadcast and distributed through social media and other platforms and shared with municipalities and universities to build awareness.

The contest’s theme was “Toward a society where no one is driven to suicide – what you want to tell”. It aimed to encourage students to create short films about suicide prevention from their own perspectives. Individuals, teams and organizations working on student suicide prevention were invited to create impactful videos that resonate with the indifferent audience. Through social media campaigns, the goal was to make suicide prevention everyone’s concern.

Video ideas were solicited in three categories:

• Self-care & SOS: “Protecting your own mind”. Videos conveying coping strategies and how to ask for help during tough times.
• Gatekeepers: “Supporting friends with suicidal thoughts”. Videos highlighting the importance and methods of noticing, reaching out, listening, connecting to support and watching over those with suicidal thoughts.
• Life-supporting suicide prevention: “Other”. Videos addressing myths and stigma about suicide, literacy for sharing information on social media, and how to support those who have lost loved ones to suicide.

Over two months, 138 storyboard submissions were received nationwide. Four entries were selected for awards through a rigorous screening process, and these were turned into videos by the students themselves and made public. They were widely covered by media and used for awareness in over 106 municipalities, including broadcasts on large outdoor screens, digital signage in city halls, cable TV commercials, website features and SOS education programmes.

The award-winning videos conveyed heartfelt messages:

• Maiko Saito’s “It’s Okay If You Can’t Talk Well” encourages opening up even if you cannot express yourself well, as it can lighten your burden and lead to new insights.
• Miyuu Kinoshita’s “It Will Be Understood” emphasizes the importance of not keeping worries and fears to oneself and sharing them with others.
• Momoha Asumi’s “I Want You to Support Me with Your Courage” expresses pain over peer suicides and a strong wish for people to seek help when needed.
• Mana Yamashita’s and Haruka Shimode’s “Behind the Smile…”, based on personal experience, conveys that even smiling people may be struggling, and recognizing this can save lives.

The award-winning videos can be watched with English subtitles.

The JSCP also launched the initiative “#Nigekatsu – A Place to Escape for Your Heart, Right Here” in 2024 to raise awareness among children and youth about the option to “escape” before reaching a suicidal crisis, especially considering the increased suicide risk after vacations when school starts.

#Nigekatsu is a participatory, workshop-style awareness activity. Participants write their thoughts and experiences on sticky notes under four themes:

• “#I want to escape from ___”
• “#Let’s express the feeling of wanting to escape”
• “#How to get through when you want to escape”
• “#Stories of escaping and feeling better”

These notes are then posted on a board. The aim is to reflect on one’s own feelings of wanting to escape and gain new insights from others’ notes. This helps reduce stigma against escaping, encouraging flexible and resilient living by choosing to escape when necessary.

Since August 2024, the activity has been held in 11 high schools and universities, five non-profit organizations, and 17 public facilities including city halls, and has received extensive media coverage. A free toolkit is available on the JSCP website, which was downloaded 117 times as of 4 August 2026. Participants from Shukutoku University shared feedback such as “It was a chance to express my feelings,” and “I’ve learnt some perspectives and ways of thinking I hadn’t thought of myself.” Changes in perception were also noted, including, “I feel less guilty about escaping,” and “I realized it’s okay to escape when things are tough.”

The continued spread of #Nigekatsu is expected to convey the importance of escaping to more children and youth, contributing to the creation of a society where they feel comfortable living.

These awareness activities emphasize the importance of young people actively participating and of those around them playing the role of gatekeepers who support them. Through such innovative initiatives, Japan aims to build a society where no one is driven to suicide, and everyone can access the support they need when they need it.