The effects of mass media on Japanese suicides at a national level & at a local level (Tokyo area) are examined using Granger’s causality model. In this paper, applying a time series model to Japanese data, the mutual causation between suicide news & suicides isinvestigated. After comparing Akaike’s Information Criterion (AIC) values of various time series models, a minimum AIC model is selected as the best model for each level. Results are basically consistent with the findings by Phillips (1986), showing that mass media have a strong one-way effect on suicide. (14 refs.)