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Emran Feroz is an Afghan-Austrian journalist currently based in Stuttgart, Germany. He is regularly writing from Afghanistan, often focusing on the Middle East, Central Asia, drone warfare, refugee policies and human rights. Emran is writing in both German and English. His work has already appeared in international media outlets such as Al Jazeera, The Intercept, Alternet, The Atlantic or the New York Times and in various German and Austrian news papers and magazines.
How Japanese Rail Stations Prevent Suicide
Japan's railway system is known for its punctuality, cleanliness and advanced technology. It encapsulates Japanese society in a perfect way, and often proves that other countries could learn many things from Japan.
This piece points at some of the brilliant psychological features built into Japan's rail stations. For example, did you know that blue light can help prevent people from committing suicide?
Japan has one of the highest suicide rates among OECD nations. Often, those taking their own lives do so by leaping from station platforms into the path of oncoming trains. Such incidents take place in Japan every day.
Blue light has a calming effect on people's mood. For that reason, Japanese authorities began installing LED panels as a suicide-prevention measure in 2009.
The approach has proven to be effective. Current data shows an 84 percent decline in the number of suicide attempts at stations where blue lights have been installed over the last 10 years.
