New Zealand Statistical Association 2024 Conference

Takafumi Kubota

Tama University

Interactive Visualization of Suicide Methods in Tokyo Japan

This is joint work with Takahiro Arai

This study aims to visualize the trends in suicide methods in Tokyo, Japan, using Japan's regional suicide statistics, "Basic Data on Suicide in Local Communities", to provide insights that can inform effective prevention strategies. Suicide is a significant social issue, and analyzing regional data can offer valuable perspectives for targeted interventions. This study focuses on visualizing the trends for different suicide methods using interactive graphs, scatter plots, histograms, parallel coordinate plots, and choropleth maps. These visualizations are generated after data cleaning to depict the occurrence and trends associated with each method.

This application is developed using the R packages Shiny and Plotly. It enables users to explore the data interactively and highlight concern regions between graphs. With Shiny, users can select the items of interest, such as region, period, or suicide method, from a menu, while Plotly allows for the implementation of interactive graphs that dynamically update based on the selected parameters. This approach facilitates the identification of specific regional trends, such as railway suicides or jumps from high-rise buildings that are more prevalent in Tokyo.

Through the development and analysis of this application, this study aims to enhance the understanding of regional and method-specific suicide trends, providing recommendations for suicide prevention measures. The visualized data is expected to serve as a valuable tool for policymakers and researchers, contributing to the strengthening of suicide prevention efforts.