Ritual suicide isn't the only type practiced in Japan. They kill
themselves for the same silly reasons and using the same silly methods we
use, too. Here's a news article from a few years back showing an example.
Whether or not it's appropriate to call it "seppuku" is another issue.
I don't see any reason why fanfics can't have character try to kill
themselves out of grief and refer to it as "seppuku"; after all, it's a term
that most of us associate with suicide, whether or not it's strictly
accurate.
Ja mata,
LarryF
Net suicide service investigated in Japan
By Reuters
December 28, 1998, 4:20 p.m. PT
TOKYO--An Internet suicide service has led to at least one death and seven
deliveries of lethal potassium cyanide capsules, Japanese police said.
At least one customer had killed herself using the capsules, police said.
The man who ran the service also appeared to have committed suicide, as had
a second customer, although the second customer had not used the capsules
she ordered through the service.
Two customers who had been sent cyanide packages still were being sought.
The site offered medication to people who "do not know how to obtain the
right drug" to commit suicide, police said, quoting the phrasing used by the
Internet page.
A police spokesman could not immediately say if the site was still in
operation. The Internet address of the Japanese-language site has not been
released.
The capsules were offered for delivery by parcel post for between
30,000-50,000 yen ($258-$430), police said.
The service came to light on December 15 when a 24-year-old Tokyo woman died
in hospital of cyanide poisoning, police said.
"The woman accessed the Internet site and purchased cyanide there," a police
spokesman said. On the same day, a 27-year-old man who allegedly ran the
Internet suicide service died at his home in the northern Japan city of
Sapporo. He appeared to have committed suicide, police said. The names of
both have been withheld by police.
The third death involved a 21-year-old Tokyo woman who did not use the
capsules, but committed suicide by taking a lethal dose of sleeping pills
prescribed by her doctor, police said. Police said they found a parcel from
the man in the home of the woman who killed herself with the cyanide. He
taught in a school preparing students for entrance exams and was a licensed
pharmacist. They contacted him via the telephone number he wrote on the
parcel's address form, asking him if he knew the woman. The man then called
the hospital where the woman was taken after ingesting the cyanide, police
said.
He apparently killed himself when he heard that she had died.
The names of six other customers were found through an investigation of his
banking records, police said.
Police said they have confirmed that three of the customers have not taken
the cyanide. They were trying to track down two other customers of the site.
----- Original Message -----
From: "allyn yonge" <ayonge@yahoo.com>
To: <ffml@fanfic.com>
Sent: Sunday, January 23, 2000 12:20 PM
Subject: [FFML] [spam][info] Seppuku
There have been several instances of the use of
seppuku or suicide that is _called_ seppuku in
fanfics. However, IMO, some of these attempts have
lacked a certain authenticity and are too "Western" in
conception and execution. Suicide is viewed
differently in Japan than in the West.(though "modern"
Japanese seem to have changing views).