Japanese Worker Kills Himself Near Company President’s Office

An employee apparently protesting a forced early retirement became the latest in a rising tide of suicides by middle-aged men in recession-bound Japan, committing the ritual “seppuku” Tuesday outside the company president’s office.

The macabre incident, in which Masaharu Nonaka, 58, stabbed himself in the stomach after a meeting with Bridgestone Corp. President Yoichiro Kaizaki, added to a drastic increase in such suicides in the last several months, particularly among down-on-their-luck men. Nationwide, suicides rose 38% to 27,102 in the first 10 months of 1998 (the latest date for which figures are available), compared with the same period the previous year.

One reason: despair about economic changes that are spurring corporations to reduce their number of employees, who were once considered sacrosanct. While layoffs are still generally forbidden at Japan’s most venerable corporations, where most employees work their entire careers, these same companies nevertheless have been attempting to prune their ranks.

Nonaka, who worked for tire maker Bridgestone for 38 years, was transferred in 1992 from headquarters to a subsidiary, Bridgestone Sports. He had been protesting a disparity in early retirement policies between the headquarters and the subsidiary, where he worked as a purchasing manager.

Nonaka showed up at the president’s office without an appointment shortly after 10 a.m., a company spokesman said, and the president met with him in a nearby reception room. Nonaka became agitated and stripped to the waist, brandishing two kitchen knives and saying he was going to kill himself. The president fled, then returned with police to try to persuade Nonaka to give up, a company spokesman said. But the man stabbed himself in the stomach. He was arrested and charged with illegally entering the company premises and illegally carrying weapons. He died at a hospital Tuesday afternoon.