Prime Minister Naoto Kan attended the ninth meeting of the Council on Comprehensive Measures to Prevent Suicide at the Prime Minister's Office.

Discussion took place on the revision (extension) of the "Guidelines for the Establishment of a Task Force for Measures against Suicide," the intensive suicide prevention campaign in March, and the revision of the Comprehensive Guidelines for the Prevention of Suicide.

The Prime Minister said in his closing address, "The current situation is that for the past 13 years the number of suicides has consistently surpassed 30,000 annually. Our goal last year was to reduce this number to less than 30,000, but this was not achieved. Therefore, a decision has been made to revise the Comprehensive Guidelines for the Prevention of Suicide and to extend the mission of the Council and the Task Force for Measures against Suicide, which was initially set to expire at the end of this fiscal year, until the end of next fiscal year. At the same time, taking advantage of the intensive suicide prevention campaign in March, I ask each ministry and agency to promote various activities.
There is a horrific turning point between the years 1997 and 1998, after which we see a sudden surge of suicides. Analysis shows that the greatest issue behind this increase during that time was economic problems. Hearing this, I felt that economic problems like poverty combined with a lack of human relations, such as having no family, community, nor friend to turn to, are some of the major causes of suicide.
Speaking in terms of the 'society with the least unhappiness,' the feeling that you have no other option than suicide is the worst form of unhappiness for any individual. I want to do everything that can possibly be done using the power of society and politics to eliminate such unhappiness."