afterlife & death in a digital age
Suicide Effects: Transportation Network of Tokyo


Abstract
Although it makes up a small percentage of all suicides in Japan, the method that gets perhaps the most attention is jumping in front of trains, jinshinjiko (literally, human accident). For commuters in large urban areas, especially Tokyo, with the Chuo line being one of the “famous” lines for suicide (chuocides), it is a mundane experience. They happen often enough and in a country with such a complex and punctual public transit system, that disturbances in schedules are a major inconvenience. These deaths are often met with indifference or annoyance, yet cause a digital ripple that travels through the city immediately following such an incident. Passengers start sending text messages to friends or bosses, to explain their delay. Announcements of the delay are made on PA systems, as well as being displayed on video monitors on-board trains throughout the region, explaining details such as the cause of delay, on which line, at what section of track, and in which direction. The digital coverage of such events reaches a wide audience, but is fleeting. The site of the incident is cleaned up and things go back to normal in around 30 minutes. 

Our installation visually demonstrates the dynamics of these events as they affect other passengers and the train companies together with the ephemeral nature of the actual effects on the techno-social systems of the city (communication and train networks). Data gathered over an extended period of time will be presented visually in a time-lapse visual manner, bringing a unique perspective on the overall situation. This study from the field includes visual references relating the unique phenomenon of train jumpers in Japan, offering not suggestions of mourning and commemoration, but a visual analysis and representation of the affect a single person can have on an intricately networked modern megalopolis.

Keywords
suicide, Japan, public transit, communication technology