With its rows of cherry trees casting soothing pools of shade at midday and mothers ferrying babies on the backs of bicycles across the tracks, there is hardly anything sinister about the railroad crossing at the edge of this town.

But with trains speeding by every three to five minutes, and relative discretion guaranteed by its bucolic setting, this simple railroad crossing has emerged as a favorite spot for ending one's life. And the booming number of deaths on this rail line has given it the reputation of being Japan's suicide express.

''I live on the second floor of that green house, and there seem to be suicides here all the time'' said Yukari Omoto, a 30-year-old mother who was ferrying her toddler daughter to town in a bicycle seat. ''When I hear the noise I look out the window to see. By coincidence, once I saw the whole thing take place.''

In just a few minutes of interviews, Ms. Omoto's gory description was matched by tales of death on the tracks by many others whose daily commutes take them past this spot, a reflection of just how banal the events have become. ''At the beauty parlor I heard that people walk with their backs to the trains and jump on the track at the last moment,'' said Yoshiko Hatori, a 44-year-old archaeologists' assistant. ''It seems that they're coming in bunches.''