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  1. Lavender Town Syndrome:
  2.  
  3.         Is it possible for Lavender Town's song in the original release to  
  4. cause children to commit suicide and become ill?  Well, in short, I do  
  5. believe so.  However, I do not think that Lavender Town Syndrome is quite  
  6. what people are making it out to be.
  7.         One could easily find in a library or the internet how music has a  
  8. certain impact on mood.  Listening to an upbeat song could make the listener
  9. feel happy.  Fast songs could alter ones heart rate.  And sad or creepy  
  10. songs may leave one in a sad or depressed state.  The Lavender Town's  
  11. original song certainly fit in to the last category, with it having quirky, out of tune chirps and sad, diminished notes in it.  Such a song, combined  
  12. with the very sad and eerie location and back-story of Lavender town, could  
  13. very much well make one feel upset.  I know one should not try to relate to  
  14. their own experiences, but I can say that when playing Yellow Version ( My  
  15. first Pokémon game), I never quite felt at ease in Lavender Town, and tried  
  16. to avoid going to it.
  17.         Many say that after the release of the first generation Pokémon  
  18. games, the games caused an increase in the illness and suicide rates in  
  19. Japan (in the ages of children).  There is a possibility that they may have  
  20. played, reached to lavender town, listened to the song play, and learned of  
  21. the town's very creepy details, and went in to a state of depression.  This  
  22. depression could have led to physical (one's physical state is very much  
  23. dependent on their mental state) and mental illness.  They may have then  
  24. proceeded from there to commit suicide.  This is a possibility, and I can  
  25. never deny it as such.  
  26.         There are so many factors, however, that one can not say "Lavender  
  27. town makes people commit suicide" with no hesitation (Well, one who actually
  28. cares about the soft sciences wouldn't).  The actual song in it's self is  
  29. creepy, but to say this peak in mental illnesses is due to the sound is not  
  30. very scientific, and one can not blame this bizarre phenomenon of suicide  
  31. and sickness on the song with out more evidence.
  32.         To address the idea that the frequencies in the song may have caused
  33. illness, I do not quite agree.  It has been shown in certain studies that  
  34. exposure to high frequencies can cause certain health effects.  One such  
  35. study carried out by the German Federal Institute for Occupational Safety  
  36. and Health showed that exposure to "The Mosquito" (a very high frequency  
  37. used in anti-loitering devices and cell phones) could cause short-term  
  38. dizziness, headaches, and nausea.  The study also stated that this is not  
  39. the limit of the total risks to safety and health.  So, one listening to  
  40. such high frequencies at a young age could get ill and be put in to a  
  41. negative mood.  However, this is not the case with the Gameboy.  The average  
  42. frequency for the Mosquito is 17.4 kHz, while the top frequency the Gameboy  
  43. can emit is around 12.5 kHz.  Therefore, one can not equate the Mosquito to  
  44. the Gameboy
  45.         I have something else to say about the supposed suicide increase  
  46. also.  In 1996, there was an increase in suicide rates in Japan, and some  
  47. say this is due to Red and Green.  I say, this statement is incorrect!  Yes,
  48. 1996 did see an increase in suicide rates in Japan.  But, so did 1997, and  
  49. 1998, and 1999, and so on.  Could this increase in suicide numbers really be
  50. due to a song that was changed soon after the issue arrived?  Probably not.  
  51. Again, I said earlier, there are too many factors.  Perhaps it was very  
  52. rainy and dark during this "peak" of suicides, as that could contribute as  
  53. well.  So, in my mind, the lavender town song in the 1st generation Pokémon  
  54. games did not increase suicide rates as has been theorized by others.
  55.         In conclusion, I would like to summarize that I do believe that,  
  56. very rarely, one could possible commit suicide or become ill from such  
  57. things like the lavender town song in Pokémon.  However, an increase in  
  58. suicide rates overall seems extremely improbable (So much that even the  
  59. improbability drive from H2G2 would have to take a while to cause it to  
  60. happen (sorry for the reference, lost people whom never read the Hitchhikers
  61. guide!)).  And so, do I believe in the supposed "Lavender Town Syndrome?"  I
  62. do not, and I say that with almost certain probability that such a syndrome  
  63. does not exist, or is a placebo effect at most.
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