JULIAN RYALL in Tokyo

Concerned by a rise in group suicides, police want internet service providers to disclose the names and addresses of anyone announcing a suicide online.

Last year 55 people died in 19 suicide pacts arranged on internet chat rooms. This year there have already been 20 suicide pacts and 54 deaths. Police currently need a court order to obtain personal information, a procedure that they fear is costing lives.

The National Police Agency wants automatic rights to the contact details of anyone posting or replying to messages indicating they are considering suicide.

But support groups for the suicidal say the truly determined will find a way around any new law.

"It is very difficult to restrict the internet, and people who are that desperate will find a way to get their message out and meet people in the same situation," said Yukio Saito, executive director of Lifeline, a Tokyo-based counselling service.

"We should instead be providing therapeutic services via the internet for people who are suicidal," said Mr Saito, whose organisation receives just 2 million yen ($146,146) a year from the Tokyo city government towards its 50 million yen operating costs.

"We can give access to doctors, mental health professionals, councillors, support groups and just be a place where people can post their feelings on the Web."

A pioneering service along these lines set up by Mafumi Usui, a psychologist at Niigata Seiryo University, attracted a remarkable 12 million people.

More than 34,000 people killed themselves in Japan last year, the sixth straight year that the number remained above 30,000. Most were middle-aged men with financial worries, but the internet has brought together a new, younger generation of unhappy Japanese.