American blogger Logan Paul apologized Tuesday after getting slammed for a video he shared on YouTube that appeared to show a body hanging in a Japanese forest known as a suicide spot.
FILE - in this Thursday, Oct. 22, 1998, file photo a group of schoolchildren read signs posted in the dense woods of the Aokigahara Forest at the base of Mount Fuji, Japan. (AP Photo/Atsushi Tsukada, File)
Paul, who has millions of Twitter followers and YouTube subscribers, posted an apology on his Twitter site , saying, "Where do I begin. Let's start with this. I'm sorry."
Although the video has been taken down, segments were still online. Critics, who have also gone online, say what was offensive was Paul's giggling and joking about the body.
The video, posted Sunday, shows Paul going on a trek with friends in the Aokigahara forest, near Mount Fuji. He seems aware that the site is sometimes chosen for suicides, but is surprised to come across what appears to be a body hanging from a tree.
Logan Pau(Twitter Photo)
He said he had wanted to raise awareness about suicide and possibly save lives, and denied his goal was to drive clicks.
"I thought I could make a positive ripple on the internet, not cause a monsoon of negativity," he said in his Twitter post.
Paul posted a more sanguine video on YouTube on Monday, showing him romping through a Tokyo park, talking about his apparel brand, visiting gadget stores and running around city streets wearing a Pokemon outfit.
Logan Pau(Twitter Photo)
He briefly mentioned the encounter with a body at the start of the video, saying, "That was weird."
Japan has a relatively high rate of suicides, with more than 21,000 a year, according to government data. Its per capita suicide rate is among the highest in the world.
Many blame the high suicide rate on the value placed on conformity, excelling and hard work in the country.
Twitter Photo
Suicide also does not suffer the religious stigma here it does in other cultures. Ritual suicide, known as seppuku or hara-kiri, has long been portrayed in movies and theater as an honorable way to take responsibility.
The Mount Fuji forest has been known for suicides for decades because people can easily get lost there, and know they won't be found for a long time.
Although Japan has many suicide-prevention groups, the culture of shame has family members of convicted criminals, people who have racked up massive debt and youngsters bullied at school often turning to suicide.
TOKYO (AP) — Japan’s space agency announced Friday a plan to launch a major upgrade to its satellite imaging system, as a new flagship rocket is put to the test for a third time.
The Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency that an H3 rocket will be launched from the Tanegashima Space Center, on a southwestern Japanese island, early afternoon on June 30, with a launch window that runs through the end of July.
The rocket will be carrying an Advanced Land Observation Satellite, ALOS-4, tasked primarily with Earth observation and data collection for disaster response and mapmaking, as well as with monitoring military activity, such as missile launches, with an infrared sensor developed by the Defense Ministry. The ALOS-4 is a successor to the current ALOS-2 and can observe a much wider area.
The launch will be the H3's third, coming after a failed debut in March 2023 and a successful launch on Feb. 17. During the first attempt, the rocket's second stage engine did not ignite and the rocket had to be destroyed along with its main payload, a satellite that was supposed to be the ALOS-3.
During H3 No. 2's successful test flight, it carried two commercially-developed observation microsatellites and an ALOS mockup.
JAXA and its main contractor Mitsubishi Heavy Industries have been developing H3 as a successor to its current mainstay, H-2A, which is set to retire after two more flights. MHI will eventually take over H3 production and launches from JAXA and hopes to make it commercially viable.
Japan sees a stable, commercially competitive space transport capability as key to the country's space program and national security.
The 57-meter (187-foot) long H3 rocket is designed to carry larger payloads than the H-2A at about half its launch cost.
FILE - JAXA H3 rocket project managers Masashi Okada, right, and Mayuki Niitsu brief journalists in front of the second stage of a H3 rocket, set for a full-fledged launch later this year after two test flights, inside the Mitsubishi Heavy Industries' Nagoya Aerospace Systems Works Tobishima Plant in Tobishima, Aichi prefecture Thursday, March 21, 2024. Japan’s space agency announced Friday, April 26, that it will launch its new flagship rocket H3 on June 30 carrying an observation satellite for disaster response and security purposes, a key mission that it had failed in its debut flight last year. (AP Photo/Mari Yamaguchi, File)
FILE - A Mitsubishi Heavy Industries staff member stands next to the top of the first stage of a H3 rocket, inside the Mitsubishi Heavy Industries' Nagoya Aerospace Systems Works Tobishima Plant in Tobishima, Aichi prefecture Thursday, March 21, 2024. Japan’s space agency announced Friday, April 26, that it will launch its new flagship rocket H3 on June 30 carrying an observation satellite for disaster response and security purposes, a key mission that it had failed in its debut flight last year.(AP Photo/Mari Yamaguchi)
