Japan has one of the highest suicide rates in the world. Leaping from a station platform into the path of an oncoming train has been a common choice. It is a brutal, disruptive end that can also wreak havoc across the transit system.
Many stations have gone to great expense to install chest-high platform barriers to prevent such suicide attempts. Much is being done to speed up the process to install these barriers, but 70 percent of Japan's largest stations still do not have them.
In the meantime, station operators have employed an alternative solution to save lives, by installing small square LED panels that emit a pleasant, deep-blue glow. Operating on the theory that exposure to blue light has a calming effect on one’s mood, rail stations in Japan began installing these LED panels as a suicide-prevention measure in 2009. They are strategically located at the ends of each platform — typically the most-isolated areas, and accordingly, the point from which most platform jumps occur.
This approach has proven to be surprisingly effective. According to one study by researchers, data analyzed over a 10-year period showed an 84 percent decline in the number of suicide attempts at stations where blue lights were installed.
