Word: shige
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...killed themselves. And as the economic downturn has pushed rates of unemployment and bankruptcy higher, the number of suicides has risen. From January through April, 11,236 people killed themselves, up 4.5% from the same period in 2008. "I think there will be many more suicides this year," says Shige...
...gloves and a floppy sun hat, carrying binoculars to focus on three spots on the cliffs where suicides are most common. He has set up a nonprofit foundation to aid the work and says he has helped prevent 188 potential suicides. After he's talked them off the cliffs, Shige--a trained counselor--takes them to his small office, where two gas heaters keep a kettle boiling, ready to make the tea that accompanies his counseling sessions. For men, Shige says, the biggest problems are debt and unemployment; most of the women are there because of depression or health issues...
There's no rush in Shige's office. He offers those who go there oroshi-mochi, a dish of pounded sticky rice served with grated radish. Traditionally the food is prepared to celebrate the New Year, with each family taking its own rice to be mixed with that of its neighbors. "When people come here and eat mochi, they remember their childhood--father, mother, siblings, hometown. They remember they're not alone," Shige says...
...Shige has funded his operation, including office rent of $800 a month and occasional support for those trying to get back on their feet, with his retirement savings and donations. But in April, the Japanese government committed to supporting Shige's and similar efforts with about 10 billion yen ($100 million) over the next three years. "It's taken five years to get the support," says Shige. "But we also need the kind of policies that keep people from becoming depressed in the first place"--particularly by bolstering the safety net for people with mental disorders and those who have...
...April, on the fifth anniversary of starting his operation, Shige sat reading a three-page, handwritten letter he had received that day from a Shizuoka man, one of many he gets from those he has helped. The letter concluded by thanking Shige for providing the man with an awareness of the love that surrounded him. As Shige finished reading, the melody of "Amazing Grace" rose from his cell phone. "I want Tojinbo to be the most challenging place," he says. "Not where life ends, but where it begins...