The number of people taking their own lives rose last year for the first time since 2009, Japan's health ministry has said.
Although deaths among men fell slightly, those among women grew by more than 14% and more than 300 children took their own lives in the eight months to November.

日本厚生省表示,去年自杀人数自2009年以来首次上升。
尽管男性的死亡人数略有下降,但女性的死亡人数却增长了14%以上,在截至11月的8个月中,有300多名儿童自杀。

"Suicides are the result of many different things, but I think one thing we can definitely say is that there was an impact from the coronavirus on economic and lifestyle factors," a ministry official is quoted as saying by Reuters news agency.
Women were said to have been affected worse by increasing unemployment and faced disproportionately more burdens at home, including child supervision.

路透社援引该部一位官员的话说:“自杀是许多不同因素的结果,但我认为我们可以肯定的是,新冠疫情对经济和生活方式因素产生了影响。”
据说,失业率上升对妇女的影响更为严重,妇女在家中面临着不成比例的更多的负担,包括孩子的监护。