Abe's assassination shocks Japan, where gun control is strict and shootings are rare
As well as the economic slump, cultural factors are also believed to have contributed to Japan's large number of suicides. In the two main Japanese religions Shintoism and Buddhism there is no moral prohibition on self killing, and many literary works extol it as a way to atone for misdeeds.
The fact that life assurance policies in Japan do not exclude payouts in the event of suicide, as is often the case in Britain and western Europe, may also distort the picture somewhat.