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Two people have died in the Japanese city of Yokohama after a little girl jumped to her death from a shopping mall, hitting a pedestrian below.
The 17-year-old high school student jumped from a building in a crowded shopping mall, hitting a 32-year-old woman who was out with her friends on Saturday evening.
The two were rushed to hospital at around 18:00 local time (09:00 GMT), where the girl died an hour later. The woman also died soon after.
It is unclear why he might have killed himself, although more people under the age of 18 in Japan kill themselves on September 1 – just before the new school term – than on any other day, according to official statistics.
Last year, 513 children killed themselves in Japan, with “school problems” cited as the most common.
Students who do not want to go back to school are known as futoko, or “people who do not go to school.”
The main reasons why these girls avoid school include family situations, personal problems with friends, and bullying, according to a previous study by the education department.
In recent years, authorities and media organizations have tried to raise public awareness of the challenges students face during this time of year.
Japan’s public broadcaster, NHK, for example, ran a campaign on Twitter called “the night of August 31”.
A recent incident in Yokohama shows a similar episode in 2020, when a 17-year-old boy jumped from the roof of a shopping mall, killing a 19-year-old female student in the busy Osaka district.
At that time the boy was charged with murder, meaning that his family owed money to the family of the victim he killed. However, the case was dropped soon after.
So far, authorities have not identified any charges in connection with Saturday night’s death.
Although Japan’s suicide rate is gradually decreasing among the general population, it is increasing among Japanese youth.
Japan is the only G7 country where suicide is the leading cause of youth death.
Additional reporting by Chika Nakayama in Tokyo.
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