Background: Recently, Japanese people have begun to use new electronic media technologies, including cell phones and the Internet, with increasing frequency.Using these media has both good and bad effects on suicidal behaviour.This study regarded electronic media use as help-seeking behaviour and examined the characteristics of the use in Japanese people in distress.The purposes of this study were to clarify, 1) the tendency to the electronic media use by people in distress, 2) the differences of the use related to gender, age, loneliness feeling, and suicidal ideation, and 3) the websites which distressed people frequently visit, classifying them.Methods: We collected 1800 respondents and asked some questions through the Internet research company.The questionnaires consisted of the following items: gender, age, the revised UCLA Loneliness Scale (Russell, 1980), suicidal ideation, attitude towards electronic media use in distress.Additionally, we asked the recommended websites in feeling anxiety or distress.Results: The results showed that the frequencies of the use of electronic media technologies tended to decrease as the age goes older.Males were less likely to use the Internet and to use the e-mail to their friends in distress than females.With regards to the revised UCLA Loneliness Scale, the users rates tended to increase as the score goes higher, i.e., the feelings of loneliness are stronger.Recommended websites from people with suicidal ideation were almost the same as compared to the websites from people with no suicidal ideation.Overall, these websites were classified in some categories, such as "information service", "bulletin board", and "counselling" based on their function.Conclusion: It is important for suicide prevention programs to understand the characteristics of the target.This study indicates how people in distress use the electronic media technologies and websites.These findings would be useful in utilizing the Internet as an effort of suicide prevention.