BACKGROUND: Suicide is a major social and health issue in Japan. We assessed prevalence of attempted suicide and explored individual, interpersonal, behavioral, and psychological risk factors associated with attempted suicide in a general community sample of youth in a metropolitan Japanese city. METHOD: Survey of 2,095 participants age between 15 and 24 who were recruited using street-intercept techniques. RESULTS: Overall, 6% of males and 11% of females reported a prior suicide attempt. For males, attempted suicide was independently associated with experience of school bullying, being homosexual or bisexual, history of drug use, experience of unwanted sex, history of a diagnosed sexually transmitted infection, and low self-esteem. For females, attempted suicide was independently associated with being younger (ages 15-19 compared to 20-24), experience of school bullying, history of drug use, and history of smoking. CONCLUSION: Prevention intervention programs for youth in Japan are necessary to achieve national aims to reduce attempted suicides and suicide mortality.