Violent Intentions

My love she speaks like silence,
Without ideals or violence,
She doesn't have to say she's faithful,
Yet she's true, like ice, like fire.

(...)

The wind howls like a hammer,
The night blows cold and rainy,
My love she's like some raven
At my window with a broken wing.

- Robert Allen Zimmerman
"Love Minus Zero/No Limit" (1965)

Multiple choice quiz, on a serious subject.

In which country are you most at risk of being intentionally killed, in a given year?

a) Japan
b) the United States
c) Italy
d) the United Kingdom
e) Mexico

The answer is, of course, a) Japan.

You are 38% more likely to be killed in Japan as in the United States. You are three times more likely to die a violent death at a human hand in Japan than in Italy or the United Kingdom. The rate of intentional killings in Japan is one and half times the rate in drug-war wracked Mexico.

Of course, the catch is the term "intentional killing"...and by whom:

Annually, per 100,000 persons

We have public service announcements posted on our keijiban, warning of masked attackers lurking in dark alleyways and lanes. However, by far the most dangerous person any of us will ever meet is the one staring back at us in the mirror.

- A post for The Lawyer, who opened up a little used email account last week and found a message that a good friend had taken her life.

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Sources of statistics: Cabinet Office, CDC, Eurostat, WHO

The original version of this post had the suicide and homicide numbers for Italy and the United Kingdom flipped. - MTC