* See return to pre-crisis highs by mid-decade

Four years ago, suicides in this northern city were running at nearly double the national rate, and as the global financial meltdown hit Japan, they might have been expected to go even higher. But Kurihara has fought back, with impressive results. The reason is simple _ a recognition that Japan's famously high suicide rate is not so much a feature of Japanese culture, drawing from samurai or ...

SINGAPORE, Nov 4 (Bernama) -- Visa card spending across Asia Pacific reached US$981 billion for the 12 months ended June 30, 2009, up by 13 per cent over the previous 12 months, said Visa, the world's largest retail electronic payments network.